In his third start back from elbow surgery that put his big league career on hold last year, Toronto Blue Jays starter Ryu Hyun-jin channeled his vintage self.
The South Korean left-hander painted the corners and limited hard contact against the Chicago Cubs at Rogers Centre in Toronto on Sunday (local time), as the Blue Jays prevailed 11-4 to snap their three-game losing skid. Ryu earned his first win since May last year.
Ryu wasn't charged with any earned runs in five innings, while giving up two hits and two walks. Ryu struck out three, all of them with his bread-and-butter changeup. He is 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA this season.
The only damage against Ryu came in the form of Dansby Swanson's two-run double in the first inning. But it was set up by first baseman Brandon Belt's error earlier in the inning, and both of the runs were unearned. Ryu allowed only one more hit for the rest of his day.
Ryu offered the Cubs the same four-pitch mix that he'd used in two earlier outings: fastball, changeup, cutter and curveball. He averaged 88.4 miles per hour with his fastball, slightly below his typical average from seasons past, but did touch 91.1 mph with the pitch.
Ryu threw the fastball 47 percent of the time (40 out of 86 pitches), followed by changeup at 28 percent. The offspeed pitch generated three whiffs on 10 swings by Cubs hitters.
Leadoff man Christopher Morel went down swinging on a changeup to begin the game. Then No. 7 hitter Patrick Wisdom, a dangerous power hitter with a penchant for striking out, fanned on the changeup to strike out in the second and then in the fourth inning.
When Cubs hitters did put their bat on the ball, it was mostly for soft contact. That the Cubs had recently been one of the top offensive teams in the majors made Ryu's performance that much more impressive.
In his season debut on Aug. 1, Ryu was knocked around by the Baltimore Orioles, giving up nine hits, including a home run and three doubles. Ryu gave up five batted balls with an exit velocity of at least 100 mph.
In the next outing against the light-hitting Cleveland Guardians six days later, Ryu pitched four no-hit innings and didn't allow any batted ball over 100 mph in exit velocity. His outing ended abruptly after four innings, as he was struck by a line drive in the right knee, and Ryu had to face a much tougher test against the Cubs while pitching with a bruised knee.
And Ryu passed it with flying colors. He threw 31 pitches in the first inning but needed 55 more to cover the next four frames. And only two balls had an exit velocity of 100 mph or more against Ryu.
"I've been throwing all my pitches since my last outing with command and everything was pretty much there. So I think I'm back to where I wanted to be," Ryu was quoted as saying through an interpreter after the win. "Ever since I started my bullpen pitching, I felt good. I haven't actually been shut down or had to be held back during my rehab process. Everything went pretty smoothly and I'm pretty satisfied about that, too."
At 36 years, four months and 20 days old, Ryu became the oldest South Korean starting pitcher to win a game in the major leagues. Park Chan-ho, the first South Korean player in the majors, had the previous mark of 35 years, 10 months and 13 days, when he notched a win for the Philadelphia Phillies against the Los Angeles Dodgers in May 2009.
Ryu will get a few more cracks to extend his own record this season, with the Blue Jays returning to a more conventional five-man rotation this week.
When Ryu rejoined the club, the Blue Jays were in the midst of a grueling stretch of playing 17 games in 17 days. They decided to go with a six-man rotation to give starters extra rest.
And with two off days coming up this week, the Blue Jays sent slumping right-hander Alek Manoah to Triple-A on Friday, and will roll with the rotation of Ryu, Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, Yusei Kikuchi and Chris Bassitt.
Ryu has not allowed an earned run in his past nine innings, further silencing detractors who'd doubted Ryu would even be able to start in the majors again following his Tommy John surgery.
Source: Yonhap News Agency