Toronto Blue Jays starter Ryu Hyun-jin tossed a scoreless outing in a no-decision against a division rival at home, coming within an out of qualifying for a win.
Ryu held the Boston Red Sox without a run over 4 2/3 innings, while allowing six hits and two walks and striking out two at Rogers Centre in Toronto on Sunday (local time). Ryu walked the tightrope all day long but kept the Red Sox off the board with some help from his defense.
Ryu, who left the game with the Blue Jays up 1-0, remained at 3-3 for the year but lowered his ERA from 2.93 to 2.62.
The Blue Jays prevailed 3-2 to complete a three-game sweep of the series.
Ryu pitched a clean first inning with two flyouts sandwiching a strikeout, and that ended up being the only three-up, three-down frame for Ryu in this game.
Ryu allowed a single and a double to begin the second inning but somehow escaped the jam unscathed.
With runners at second and third, Pablo Reyes chopped a grounder at shortstop Bo Bichette, who made a perfect throw home to nab Rafael Devers at the plate. Adam Duvall, the runner at second, broke toward third but returned to the bag after Bichette’s throw.
The next batter, Trevor Story, flew out to center on a ball that could have allowed Duvall to tag up from third if he had advanced on Reyes’ grounder.
Instead, the Red Sox suddenly had runners at first and second with two outs, and Ryu retired Bobby Dalbec on a flyout to right field to end the inning.
After the Blue Jays scored the first run in the bottom second, Ryu pulled off another Houdini act in the top third, after the Red Sox once again started the rally with a single and a double.
Ryu retired Rob Refsnyder on a shallow flyout to left, not deep enough for Reese McGuire, a slow runner, to score from third. Then Justin Turner grounded out to third, keeping the runners at second and third as McGuire once again had to stay put.
Ryu walked Devers but got Duvall to fly out to right field to keep the Red Sox scoreless.
The left-hander wasn’t done wiggling his way out of jams. In the fourth inning, the Red Sox put men at the corners with one out following an error and a single. But Ryu got McGuire to bounce into an inning-ending, 6-4-3 double play.
After giving up a one-out single in the top fifth, Ryu struck out Justin Turner and battled Devers to full count before walking him on six pitches.
Devers was the last batter Ryu faced in this game, as Yimi Garcia came on trying to put out the fire. The reliever got Ryu off the hook by striking out Duvall.
Ryu finished with 83 pitches, 54 of them for strikes. Since returning from Tommy John surgery on Aug. 1, Ryu has yet to throw more than 86 pitches in any of his nine starts.
The Blue Jays added a run in the bottom fifth, but the Red Sox responded with a run in the top seventh. Then in the top ninth, with the Red Sox down to their final strike, Devers tied the game with a solo home run.
But the Blue Jays responded right away and walked off in the bottom ninth, courtesy of Matt Chapman’s double.
The Blue Jays improved to 83-67 and moved up to the second Wild Card spot in the American League, a half game ahead of the Texas Rangers (82-67).
Source: Yonhap News Agency