The Toronto Blue Jays’ Hyun-jin Ryu made his first start in 426 days. His pitching was shaky, but the diagnosis is that he needs one more look.
Hyun-jin Ryu started a game against the Baltimore Orioles at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada, on Tuesday (Feb. 2). He gave up four runs on nine hits in five innings of work. Toronto fell to 3-13.
Sports Illustrated (SI) reserved judgment, calling it “not great, but not terrible either.
Ryu held the Jays to three runs in the fifth inning. He needed one more inning to record a quality start. Ryu was back on the mound in the sixth inning. He gave up a home run to the leadoff batter and was removed.
SI wrote, “It was Ryu’s first major league start since June 2, 2022, and while it didn’t go particularly well, it wasn’t a disaster. Ryu threw 54 of his 80 pitches for strikes. He was a strike machine, but his command was erratic.
“Ryu’s velocity remains to be seen. He was up to 91 mph. Not bad for a first start,” he said, adding that there were some positives.
The Toronto Star, a Canadian outlet, wrote, “Ryu was fairly efficient for five innings, but then he gave up a home run on a changeup. It was a 335-foot home run, but it was as painful as a moonshot. In other words, the home run was the problem.
The Toronto Star wrote, “Ryu’s velocity increased as the game progressed. It’s a promising sign.
MLB.com wrote, “It was encouraging to see Ryu back on the mound, but a 3-13 loss to Baltimore wasn’t what they were hoping for,” and noted that Ryu struggled considerably, giving up four runs on nine hits, many of which were rockets. 메이저놀이터
In fact, Ryu took 10 hard hits (batted balls over 95 mph, where the probability of a hit increases dramatically).
Ryu said, “I’m very happy with my comeback. But most of my pitches weren’t in the right spot. I will get better in the future.”