Despite a four-game winless streak, the local media has been raving about Ryu Hyun-jin.

Ryu threw 4⅔ innings of one-hit ball with six strikeouts and two walks against the Boston Red Sox in his first start of the 2023 Major League Baseball (MLB) season at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Ryu threw 83 pitches on the day. Ryu topped out at 91.1 (146.61) miles per hour on his fastball (37) and averaged 89.1 (143.39).

His pitches included a changeup (19), curve (13), cutter (12), and sinker (2). Ryu has consistently thrown less than 90 pitches since returning from elbow ligament reconstruction surgery (Tommy John surgery). It was also the second time this season that Ryu failed to complete the fifth inning, as he did on May 8 against the Cleveland Indians.스포츠토토

With his performance, Ryu improved to 3-3 on the season. His season ERA dropped to 2.62 from 2.93.

Ryu got off to a good start in the first inning. He got leadoff hitter Sedan Rafaela to fly out to right field and then struck out the next batter, Rob Refsnyder (Kim Jung-tae), on a wild pitch. He then got Dodgers teammate Justin Turner to fly out to left field for the third out of the inning.

From the second inning on, however, the Dodgers were in trouble every inning. After giving up an infield single to Rafael Devers to start the inning, he gave up an infield single to Adam Duvall to put runners on second and third with no outs.

Ryu’s crisis management skills came into play. He induced Pablo Reyes to ground out to shortstop, and Toronto shortstop Bo Bissett threw home to end the rally at third base. With runners on first and second, Trevor Story and Bobby Dalbec got out of the inning with outfield grounders to end the threat.

In the top of the third, Ryu gave up a leadoff single to Liz McGuire and then a double down the third base line to Rafaela to put runners on second and third again. Ryu then got Lefsnider to fly out to left field and then got Turner to ground out to third. He gave up a walk to Devers to load the bases, but got Duvall to fly out to right field to end the inning.

In the top of the fourth, Ryu got Reyes to hit a leadoff foul fly to first base. The next batter, Story, induced a grounder to third. However, Toronto third baseman Chapman missed the throw, allowing a runner to reach first base. After the error, Ryu was shaken up. He gave up a single to left to Dalbec, advancing Story to third, putting runners on first and third with one out. He got Maguire to pop out to shortstop, second baseman, and third baseman to end the inning.

In the fifth, with one out, he gave up an infield single to Lefsnider. Ryu fielded the ball himself, but an irregularly large bounce slowed the ball down, allowing Lefsner to reach first base.

He then struck out Turner on a wild pitch and gave up a walk to Devers to put runners on first and second. At this point, Ryu had thrown 83 pitches and manager John Schneider decided to make a change. Garcia took over on the mound and pitched a clean inning, and Ryu didn’t allow a run.

And then Toronto…

With a 2-1 lead, Toronto tied the game in the bottom of the ninth when reliever Eric Swanson gave up a game-tying solo home run to left off Devers. But Chapman’s game-tying RBI single with one out in the bottom of the ninth gave the Jays a 3-2 victory.

With their third straight win, the Jays improved to 83-67 on the season, leapfrogging the Texas Rangers, who also lost, into the second wild-card spot in the American League.

“He was at his pitch count limit and we made the decision to pull him regardless of the inning,” Toronto manager John Schneider said after the game. “Ryu had a crisis, but he handled it well,” he said.

“He gave up a lot of hits and had some defensive help, but he continued to pitch well today,” said Keegan Mathieson, a Toronto-based reporter for MLB.com. “With Alec Manoa out of the rotation, his presence is very important.”

The Toronto Star said, “Ryu showed off his ability to get out of jams. He had runners on second and third with no outs in the second and third innings, but both times he was able to get the final out.”

Yahoo Sports Canada’s Thomas Hall was equally enthusiastic, writing, “Ryu proved himself to be an escape artist in the first three innings.”

Ryu “was focused on minimizing runs. He credited shortstop Beau Bissett with changing the tone of the game.”

As for the substitutions, he said, “You have to accept them because every game is important in the postseason. I trusted the judgment of the bench.”