The “Korean Monster” Ryu Hyun-jin (36-Toronto Blue Jays) pitched his first quality start of the season, and the American media was all over it. Even though the Blue Jays had to settle for a loss instead of a victory, Ryu’s pitching performance deserves to be applauded.
Ryu started the 2023 Major League Baseball game against the Texas Rangers at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Wednesday (July 13) and went six innings, allowing three runs on five hits, one walk and five strikeouts.
It was perfect until the third inning. Aside from a walk to Robbie Grossman with two outs in the top of the first, he shut down the Texas lineup. The Toronto outfielders also helped Ryu with a strong effort on defense.
However, in the top of the fourth inning, he was struck by a blow. The no-hitter came to a screeching halt when Corey Seager, who was a one-hitter with the Los Angeles Dodgers, singled up the middle. He was shaken up shortly thereafter, giving up a two-run homer to Grossman.
Ryu quickly settled down, however, and his trademark steady command of his pitches, a wide array of offspeed pitches, and excellent game management kept him out of trouble until the fifth inning. In the top of the sixth, runners at first and third traded runs and outs on a fly ball to right field by Haim, but he finished with a solid six innings of three-run ball.
The silencing of the Toronto bats left Ryu with three losses instead of four wins on the season, but it was his first quality start since returning from elbow ligament splicing surgery last June.
MLB.com, the official website of Major League Baseball in the United States, took to its Twitter account to highlight Ryu’s relief appearance, noting that he got Nate Lowe to ground out to first base with one out in the top of the fourth inning.
With a favorable no-ball-to-strike count, Ryu threw Lowe a four-pitch, 101-mph slow curveball that completely took away his timing. Lowe could only watch as the ball left Ryu’s hand and crossed home plate into the catcher’s mitt.
“Ryu threw a 63 mph curveball that completely froze the batter (Lowe),” MLB.com tweeted.
“The look on Lowe’s face as he walked back to the dugout after getting hit by a pitch in the top of the fourth inning was priceless,” wrote Sports Illustrated. He was completely blown away by the changeup.”스포츠토토
“Of the five strikeouts Ryu struck out in Texas, none were as strategic as the slow curveball he threw to Roe. It was a huge strikeout.”
When Ryu underwent elbow ligament reconstruction surgery in June of last year, the American media was skeptical of his chances of making a comeback. But after a year of rehabilitation and recovery, Ryu is on track to make a strong comeback in the 2023 season.
Since his return to the big leagues on Aug. 1 against the Baltimore Orioles, Ryu has gone 3-3 with a 2.93 ERA in eight games.
CBS Sports praised him for his first quality start, saying, “In 40 innings, Ryu has a 2.93 ERA, a 1.05 WHIP, and a 33-to-9 strikeout-to-walk ratio,” even though he has only pitched five innings since his return.