TORONTO – As far as August days go for a baseball team, Tuesday was about as busy — and tense — as it could get at Rogers Centre.
Firstly, with the MLB trade deadline set at 6 p.m. ET, the possibility of roster-changing moves loomed large in the leadup to the Toronto Blue Jays’ game against the Baltimore Orioles. (More on that later.)
Adding to the drama was the expected update concerning the status of Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette, who left Monday’s game with a knee injury. (We’ll get to that “encouraging” news in a bit, as well.)
Amidst all of that, it would be easy to overlook a storyline that would be front-and-centre on any other day at the park: The return of Hyun Jin Ryu.
The last time the Blue Jays’ left-hander took the mound in a major-league game was June 1 of last season, 426 days ago. Following that, he underwent Tommy John surgery on his left arm and spent over a year recovering and rehabbing.
The long journey, which Ryu mostly spent at the Blue Jays’ player development complex in Dunedin, Fla., finally culminated in him toeing the rubber in the first inning on Tuesday in front of 40,691 at Rogers Centre.
And while Ryu was hit hard in what was ultimately an ugly 13-3 loss to the Orioles, the left-hander mostly kept his team in the game.
Things didn’t start off well for Ryu as Adley Rutschman launched his first pitch of the game to centre field at 104.1 m.p.h. for a double. Ryan Mountcastle followed that with a 110.3-m.p.h. double to centre that cashed in Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson plated a second run later in the frame when he beat out a throw at first to avoid a double play and extend the inning.
Ryu kept the lid on the inning though, getting Jordan Westburg to strike out to end the frame.
Rutschman added an RBI single in the second to push the score to 3-0, but the Blue Jays rallied to tie to the game with a two-run home run from Danny Jansen — his 15th homer of the season, matching his career high set last year — and a solo shot from Brandon Belt.
To his credit, Ryu scattered hits from the Orioles to contribute three scoreless frames before Henderson, a left-handed hitter, led off the sixth inning by depositing a middle-middle changeup just over the right-field wall.
That spelled the end of Ryu’s outing, a five-plus inning performance in which he allowed the four runs on nine hits, walking one and striking out three. The 36-year-old allowed plenty of hard contact, with seven of the Orioles’ hits registering at 99 m.p.h. or above.
Ryu relied on his four-seam fastball, throwing it 33 times out of his total 80 pitches (41 per cent). It maxed out at 91 m.p.h. and averaged 89 m.p.h. He also mixed in 22 changeups, 20 curves — which induced five of his eight whiffs — and five cutters.
As hard as the Orioles hit Ryu, though, it paled in comparison to the damage that the American League East leaders inflicted on the Blue Jays’ bullpen. The club scored three runs off Blue Jays left-hander Genesis Cabrera in the seventh and added four more with an Anthony Santander grand slam off Nate Pearson in the eighth.
In all, it was an ugly game for the Blue Jays, but the day was buoyed by some good news for the club in the early prognosis of Bichette.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider revealed before the game that Bichette underwent an MRI on Monday night that revealed “no significant structural damage, just some inflammation.” He described it as the “best possible outcome,” adding that Bichette would be considered day-to-day for the time being.
Added general manager Ross Atkins: “We are encouraged by the news after the fact. When you see someone in pain, there’s obviously concern on many levels and the more you learn, the more at peace we’ve become. It is a big hit to us, hence the [trade, but] very optimistic that he’ll be helping our team again [this season].”
The acquisition Atkins referred to was shortstop Paul DeJong, who the Blue Jays landed from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for minor-league right-hander Matt Svanson a few hours before the deadline.
DeJong, who was heading to Toronto on Tuesday, will act as insurance as Bichette recovers, and represented a strong fit to the current roster, according to Atkins.
The general manager didn’t need to add starting pitching, given the return of Ryu, who’ll pitch as part of a six-man rotation for the Blue Jays over the next little while.
If he continues to keep his team in the game the way he did on Tuesday, that’ll be a positive for the Blue Jays.
