The “Korean Monster,” Ryu Hyun-jin, 36, saved the day for the Toronto Blue Jays. With the shadow of postseason elimination looming over their 1-3 starters, Hyun-jin Ryu delivered a crucial win.
Hyun-jin Ryu started the 2023 Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series home
opener against Cleveland on Sunday (July 27) at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario,
Canada, and pitched five innings of four-hit ball, 토토 striking out five and allowing three
runs (two earned) to lead Toronto to an 8-3 victory.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak and improved Toronto’s record to 71-59,
keeping their postseason hopes alive.
The game was crucial for Toronto.
Earlier in the day, the Jays lost to the first-place Baltimore Orioles in the American League
East by scores of 0-7 and 3-5 on the 24th and 25th, respectively, effectively eliminating their chances of winning the division and leaving them with a wild-card berth in the fall. But as
they slipped to fourth place in the wild-card race, the possibility of elimination began to loom.
On April 26, they were swept by Cleveland, a team with less than a five-game winning
percentage, to add insult to injury.
In their last three games, the Jays have used their 1-3 starters – Kevin Gausman (two runs in six innings), Jose Berrios (five runs in six innings), and Chris Bassett (four runs in 5⅔ innings) – and all three have taken the loss. Losing the pitching battle to the other team was the problem.
If the Jays had lost to Cleveland on Game 27, extending their losing streak, Toronto’s fall could have been even more difficult.
With the team at a critical juncture, Hyun-jin Ryu stepped up to the plate as the “streak stopper.
Ryu gave up a solo shot in the first and fifth innings, but was able to shut down the Cleveland bats. He was conservative with his pitches and quickly racked up outs. He was also good with his defense, 안전놀이터 which kept the hitters off balance. With Hyun-Jin Ryu in control, Toronto scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning and held on for the win.
This is the second time since returning from injury that Ryu has snapped a losing streak. On April 14, he pitched five innings of two-run ball against the Chicago Cubs to save his team from a three-game losing streak.
For Toronto, Ryu is the most obvious trump card. In the five games Ryu has pitched, Toronto has gone 4-1. The only loss came against Baltimore on April 2 in his return to the majors, but the Jays won the next four games.
That’s an overwhelmingly high winning percentage compared to other starting pitchers. Toronto is 1-3 in August starts for both Gausman and Berrios, and 2-2 in August starts for Bassitt. Yusei Kikuchi went 3-1 in his August starts, the second-highest winning percentage behind Ryu Hyun-jin.
Their individual performances are also quite comparable. Ryu’s three wins (one loss) in August alone were better than Bassitt’s (2-2), Kikuchi’s (1-1), Berrios’ (1-2), and Gaussman’s (1-3). Ryu’s 2.25 ERA in August is lower than Kikuchi’s (2.28), Gaussman’s (3.97), Bassitt’s (4.01), and Berrios’ (4.98).
After a lengthy layoff due to elbow surgery, Ryu has looked like an “ace. Toronto posted a video of Ryu striking out Andres Giminez on a wild pitch on their social media, 스포츠토토 calling it “vintage Ryu.”