Hyun-jin Ryu (Toronto Blue Jays) was ace once again. He extended his personal winning streak to three games with a victory that saved his team from a three-game losing streak.
Ryu took the mound for the Blue Jays against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2023 Major League Baseball game at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on Sunday (June 27). He was removed from the game with the bases loaded in the sixth inning due to back-to-back errors in the infield, but was able to pick up the win with five innings, four hits (two home runs), four walks, five strikeouts, three runs and two earned runs. Toronto snapped a three-game losing streak with an 8-3 win over Cleveland.
It was his fifth start of the season and a reunion with Cleveland, an opponent he failed to beat on Aug. 8 when he was bruised by a direct hit to the knee in a four-inning no-hitter.
In his last four starts, he was 2-1 with a 1.89 ERA. He gave up four runs in five innings to the Baltimore Orioles in his second start of the season, but picked up two wins in the next three games with 14 scoreless innings. In his major league debut, he was 2-0 with a 2.35 ERA in four starts against Cleveland, and with a four-inning no-hitter under his belt this year, expectations were high for three wins.
Toronto was coming off a three-game losing streak from Baltimore on April 24 to Cleveland on April 26. Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, and Chris Bassett took the losses in back-to-back games. In the wild-card race, the Seattle Mariners-Texas Rangers (over 72 wins and 56 losses) and Houston Astros (72 wins and 58 losses) were 1.5 games back. With the Tampa Bay Rays (78-52) far ahead, Toronto needs to pass two of those three teams to make it to fall baseball.
Ryu took the mound with a big responsibility. The result was a win that snapped the team’s three-game losing streak. It was his second win of the season after his first against the Cubs on April 14, and it snapped Toronto’s losing streak. Hyun-jin Ryu, the man who gets the win when he needs to, was in ace mode.
Although he didn’t get off to a quality start due to two infield errors in the sixth inning, he did his job with five innings of five-strikeout ball and three earned runs. The five strikeouts were his most in a single game this season. He lowered his ERA to 2.25.
▶ After four innings of silence, Cleveland tries a new lineup
Cleveland went with the following lineup: Cole Calhoun (first base)-Jose Ramirez (designated hitter)-Oscar Gonzalez (left field)-Ramon Loreano (right field)-Andres Jimenez (second base)-Gabriel Arias (shortstop)-Tyler Freeman (third base)-Cam Callaway (catcher)-Miles Straw (center field). Steven Kahn, Brian Rocchio, and Bo Naylor, who have played in the last eight games, are out. On the mound was Logan Allen, who was 6-6 with a 3.40 ERA.
Toronto’s starting lineup was Whit Merrifield (left field), Bo Bichette (designated hitter), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (first base), George Springer (right field), Davis Schneider (second base), Danny Jansen (catcher), Matt Chapman (third base), Santiago Espinal (shortstop), and Dalton Bashaw (center field).
Hyun-jin Ryu took the mound for his third win of the season and the team’s first postseason berth. He also set a new Toronto franchise record. That’s four consecutive scoreless games. The only other starter in Toronto franchise history to throw four consecutive scoreless games (excluding openers) was Pat Hentgen in 1997. From May 5-21, 1997, Hentgen threw 35 scoreless innings in four games, including two complete games and one shutout.
▶ Ryu fights back against a leadoff home run…Toronto rallies in the first inning
The first inning started with a pitcher’s choice. A four-pitch four-seam fastball from Calhoun was clocked at 93.7 miles per hour (150.8 kilometers per hour) in front of Ryu. It was a flashback to his last at-bat in Cleveland, but Ryu flexed his body and calmly handled the pitch.
One inning later, he threw back-to-back fastballs to Ramirez. It was a wild pitch. The first pitch was up the middle, and the second pitch that led to the home run was high. The hard hit, 104.2 miles per hour (167.7 kilometers per hour), traveled 391 feet (119.2 meters). It was a big hit that would have been a home run in all 30 major league ballparks. It was his first homer in four games after being hit by Gunner Henderson in the sixth inning at Baltimore on April 2. It also ended his four-game no-hitter streak.
Ryu didn’t falter after the run. He struck out Gonzalez, who suffered a knee contusion in their last meeting, and walked Lorenzo to end the first inning. Gonzalez worked a favorable count with three straight changeups before inducing a swinging strike with a curveball. His first strikeout in 27 games. Loreano then struck out the side with a fastball in the zone.
Toronto answered right back in the bottom of the first to take some pressure off Ryu. After Merrifield led off with a double to left field, American League batting title contender Bichette tied the game with a single to left-center field. Guerrero Jr. was thrown out at the plate on a “behind-the-back-pass” throw from second baseman Jimenez, and Springer grounded out to third, but Davis Schneider made things interesting two batters later. He took a two-pitch fastball from Allen over the left-center field fence for a game-winning two-run homer.
KK strikes out three in the second inning…and escapes a bases-loaded jam in the third.
With the lead, Ryu struck out two straight batters. He threw a cutter to Jimenez for a swinging strike. After three straight fouls, he threw his main weapon, a changeup, to Arias and induced a swinging strike.
The final out of the inning was a smart defensive play. A fastball to Freeman rolled between the pitcher and first baseman, and Ryu quickly followed it and made a glove toss to first baseman Guerrero Jr. A catch and throw would have been too late, but he made good judgment and accurate delivery to get the out. By the second inning, Ryu had thrown 28 pitches, 21 of which were strikes.
With the score 3-1, Ryu led off the third inning with a double off Gallagher. The ball didn’t travel far, as third baseman Chapman tried to make a diving catch but couldn’t get his glove on it, and the ball rolled backward for a double. Straw’s sacrifice bunt to third base in the ninth put runners at first and third, but Ryu didn’t allow the run to score. He got Calhoun to fly out to short left field and Ramirez, who had homered earlier, made a sliding catch in center field.
The fourth inning was more of the same. Ryu threw a changeup to Gonzalez and induced a grounder to third base. Loreano followed with a changeup to lead off the inning. Jimenez struck out on three pitches. He worked the count with a curveball and fouled off a two-pitch cutter to make it 0-2. Ryu did not return. He dropped a three-pitch curveball low and away from the left-handed hitting Jimenez. It was his fourth strikeout of the game.
▶ Six straight infield errors in the sixth inning, blown QS in 463 days
The Toronto bats came alive in the fourth inning after being shut out in the first. Davis, the hero of the comeback, led off with a double to left field. Battery partner Jansen followed with a single to left to put runners on first and third. Chapman made it 4-1 with a single up the middle and Espinal made it 5-1 with a sacrifice fly to center.
Ryu took the mound in the fifth inning with a four-run cushion and the win requirement. He walked the first batter he faced, Arias, on a 3-1 pitch. He induced a wild swing with his changeup to get a full count, then froze Arias with a 91-mile-per-hour (146.4 km/h) fastball. In doing so, Ryu increased his record for most strikeouts in a single game this season from four to five.
The first pitch he threw to Freeman was a curveball for a home run. It was Freeman’s first major league home run. As in the first inning, the home run didn’t rattle Ryu. Ryu got Gallagher to ground out to shortstop and Straw to ground out to the pitcher. Both Gallagher and Straw got grounders on changeups.
After throwing just 60 pitches through five innings, Ryu continued to pitch in the sixth. If he could get through this inning, he would have his first quality start in 463 days, since throwing six scoreless innings against Cincinnati on May 21 last year. But Ryu and Toronto were in trouble in the top of the sixth with a 5-2 lead.
After giving up a leadoff single to Calhoun, Ryu had to face Cleveland’s most dangerous hitter, Ramirez. Chapman missed a line drive to center field and failed to make the play. Things went from bad to worse with runners on first and second.
Gonzalez reached on an error by Espinal to load the bases, and Ryu was forced to walk off the mound. The Toronto home fans gave Ryu a standing ovation. Pitching coach Pete Walker put his arm around his shoulder and congratulated him, and Ryu responded with a big smile. 카지노사이트
On the mound, Garcia had already cleared the bases. He gave up a hard-hit ball to the first batter he faced, Loreano, but retired Jimenez, Arias, and Freeman on swinging strikes. Ryu’s offense stopped at three runs. The run in the sixth inning was unearned, so his unearned run total was two.
With a 5-3 lead after six innings, Toronto broke through in the seventh. Guerrero Jr. led off with a single to right and Springer followed with a double to left field. With runners on second and third, reliever Schneider came to the plate. Schneider lined a single to left field against reliever James Karinbuk. With two outs, Basho followed with a two-run single to center field to extend the lead to 8-3.
After Garcia, the bullpen brought in Eric Swanson and Tim Maysa in the seventh and Trevor Richards in the eighth to close out the game. Richards pitched two innings of relief.