Ryu Hyun-jin to start against Cleveland on 27th
Back in ace form after more than a year off
Threw a no-hitter in their last meeting
Hoping for a strong outing with his knife-edge change-up
Toronto’s Hyun-jin Ryu throws hard against Cleveland on Monday. Cleveland | AP
Ryu Hyun-jin (36, Toronto) will try to win his third straight game. He returns to Cleveland with memories of a no-hitter.
Toronto announced its starting lineup for a three-game weekend series against Cleveland on Friday, naming Ryu Hyun-jin as the starter for the second game of the series on Sunday.
Cleveland is the second opponent Ryu has faced since returning from a year-long rehab assignment. It’s also the first team that hasn’t managed a single hit off his knife-edge fastball since his return.
온라인카지노Ryu pitched four scoreless innings in Cleveland on 8 August, allowing just one hit and no walks. He got the final out of the fourth inning and was hit in the knee by a pitch, preventing him from pitching further. After giving up nine hits, including four long balls, in his first start against Baltimore on the 2nd, Ryu began to show signs of life the very next day.
Since then, Ryu has shown strengths in each of his outings. After a strong outing in Cleveland, he picked up his first win against the Chicago Cubs on the 14th, allowing two runs (unearned) on two hits in five innings with his revitalised changeup. Against Cincinnati on the 21st, his curve was the star of the show. As the Cincinnati batters, mostly right-handed, responded to his changeup early in the game, Ryu turned to his curveball. After showing off his fastball, especially against aggressive hitters, he threw a very slow curveball in the low 100s of kilometres to take away their timing and get them out. After five innings of four-hit ball, seven strikeouts and two runs (unearned), Ryu’s second win in as many starts, he was praised for his control.
Ryu hasn’t fully upped his velocity yet. In four games since his return, his fastball has touched 91.1 mph (146.6 km/h), which he hit against the Cubs on 14 April. His fastball average was 89 mph (143.2 km/h) against Baltimore on the 2nd, his first start. Now that he’s fully recovered his velocity, Ryu has been able to rely on the strength of his changeup alone, which sits around 90 mph (144.8 km/h), to win games with ease. After giving up four runs in his first start, he has since gone on a three-game scoreless streak, lowering his four-game ERA to 1.89.
It was against Cleveland on the 8th that Ryu’s speciality, his changeup, came to life. Cleveland batters couldn’t get a handle on it. In just four innings and a pitch count of 52, Ryu threw 11 changeups, nine of which batters swung at and more than half swung at five. How well the Cleveland hitters, who have been thoroughly beaten by Ryu this season due to their lack of offence, come out prepared will determine whether Ryu wins Game 3.
Ryu will be facing left-hander Logan Allen. The 25-year-old made his big league debut this year and is 6-6 with a 3.31 ERA in 19 games.