TORONTO — Hyun Jin Ryu signed his $80-million, four-year deal with the Toronto Blue Jays on Dec. 27, 2019 and after 32 starts and 13 home outings, he finally toed the Rogers Centre rubber and delivered a strong debut that was a long time coming.
The ace left-hander was in control throughout his seven innings of work in a 7-2 victory over Cleveland, the type of leverage-free night envisioned as a regularity on idyllic Toronto summer nights when he signed on the dotted line.
Backed by first-inning home runs from George Springer and Teoscar Hernandez, and some well-executed situational hitting later in the game that padded the early margin, Ryu led the Blue Jays to their fourth victory in five outings since returning home.
Among the many peculiarities caused by the club’s pandemic displacement is that Jose Berrios, acquired Friday in a trade-deadline blockbuster, pitched at the dome as a member of the Blue Jays before Ryu did.
No matter, Ryu made sure it was worth the wait, allowing just two runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts in his sixth start of seven innings this season, extending his recent rebound after hitting a rut just before the all-star break.
Fuelling the charge has been a slight uptick in velocity — his four-seamer sat at 90.6 m.p.h., exactly one m.p.h. above his season average, and touched 93.6 — while his changeup continues to round back into form, generating three whiffs, two called strikes, three fouls and four outs.
Also firmer was a cutter he used a game-high 32 times, throwing it at an average of 87.7 m.p.h., two m.p.h. above his season average, while his curveball led to five whiffs on nine swings.
The 99 pitches were the most he’d thrown since a 100-pitch start June 20 at Baltimore, all of which should set him up well for his next outing in Sunday’s series finale against the Boston Red Sox.
The Blue Jays are loaded up for that series, with Alek Manoah slated to pitch the opener Friday and Berrios and Robbie Ray handling the duties in Saturday’s doubleheader, the third ever at the dome and first since April 17, 2018, the day after an ice chunk fell from the CN Tower and punctured a hole in the roof.
That scenario sets up Steven Matz and Ross Stripling to pitch in next Tuesday’s doubleheader at Anaheim, at which point the Blue Jays will decide whether to return to a five-man rotation.
In the interim, they’ll need the offence to keep chewing up pitchers the way they did to Zach Plesac. Springer opened things up with his 41st career leadoff homer and after Bo Bichette singled with two outs, Hernandez fouled off three two-strike pitches and took a slider in the dirt before shooting a fastball on the outer edge over the wall in right.
Breyvic Valera, who’ll see more action with Cavan Biggio on the injured list due to what the club called mid-back tightness, delivered a run-scoring groundout in the bottom of the fourth after Cleveland scratched out a run in the top half. The Blue Jays pushed the lead out in the fifth on a Bichette sacrifice fly and a Hernandez RBI single while Springer added a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
Corey Dickerson, activated from the IL to take Biggio’s spot on the roster, went 0-for-4 in his Blue Jays debut but put the ball in play in all four at-bats. His left-handed bat will be inserted into the outfield mix, likely starting against tougher right-handers and coming off the bench at other times as the Blue Jays try to optimize platoon advantages with him and others.
Everything starts on the mound, of course, and nearly 20 months after Ryu joined the Blue Jays, he started a game under an open roof and his first turn at Rogers Centre played out the way the team hoped it would.
