It’s safe to say it wasn’t his best pitching performance of the season, as he gave up four runs in four straight innings. But despite falling short of his fourth win of the season, the “Korean Monster” did his job and the Toronto Blue Jays won their third straight game.

Hyun-jin Ryu threw 83 pitches in 4⅔ innings, allowing one run on six hits with two walks and two strikeouts against the Boston Red Sox at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on April 18 (ET). While he fell short of the four-win hunt, he did lower his ERA noticeably from 2.93 to 2.62.

After returning from Tommy John surgery on August 2, Ryu went 3-1 with a 2.25 ERA in five appearances. The good pitching continued into September. Ryu recorded his first two quality starts (six innings or less) against the Colorado Rockies and Oakland Athletics, allowing two runs in five innings each, and three runs in six innings against the Texas Rangers.

Unlike August, September was not as fortunate in terms of wins, despite the good pitching. The bullpen was unable to secure the win against Colorado, and the offense couldn’t get enough support against Oakland and Texas, resulting in back-to-back losses, and they couldn’t get a win on the road either. But in the games that could have been the most important to clinch a wild-card berth, they produced the best “results.

Poor batting. But strong defense!

Ryu Hyun-jin started the inning with a great defense. After facing leadoff hitter Sedan Rafaelo in the top of the first inning with a favorable 0B-2S count, Ryu threw four pitches and traveled 88.9 mph (approximately 143.1 km/h) before Rafaelo stuck his bat out. Rafaelo stuck his bat out and lined it toward right field. You could almost feel the time of the hit. This is where the hail mary came in.

Rafaelo’s hard-hit ball was caught by right fielder Cavan Biggio, who made a “super diving catch” for the first out. If the ball had dropped, it could have been a triple for the quick-footed Rafaelo. Ryu raised his hand to show his appreciation and retired the next three batters to end the three-hitter.

Toronto looked to be slipping out of the wild-card race after suffering a “shock sweep” in a four-game series against the wild-card contending Texas Rangers. However, a two-game winning streak the day before (Sept. 17) moved them into the third wild card spot and kept their postseason hopes alive. That’s where Ryu’s minimum-inning performance came in handy, as he faced back-to-back singles by Rafael Devers and Adam Duvall in the top of the second with runners on second and third.

Here’s where we see another admirable defensive play. Toronto’s players knew that limiting runs was paramount. With runners on second and third, Ryu induced a grounder to shortstop from Pablo Reyes, where Bo Bissett made a spectacular catch to rob Ryu of a run by snaring Devers at home plate.

Ryu responded to Bissett’s help perfectly. With runners on first and second, Ryu got Trevor Story to fly out to center field for the second out, and Bobby Dalbec to fly out to right field to end the inning.

Crisis management shines in every inning of the game

Ryu’s pitching on this day was clearly a bit out of character. In terms of process, it was his worst outing since his return from Tommy John surgery against the Baltimore Orioles. But the result was a no-hitter. If you look at it from a different perspective, it was a game that highlighted his crisis management skills.

In the top of the third inning, Ryu gave up back-to-back singles to Reese Maguire and Rafaelo to put runners on second and third with no outs. Same situation as in the second inning. From there, he was on his own. Ryu struck out the next batter, Lev Snyder, on a fly ball to left field, but it was too shallow to move the Boston runners. He then got Justin Turner to ground out to third to quickly load the bases.

It was a good call to get out of the jam. Ryu then faced Boston’s “go-to” hitter, Devers, with runners on second and third, and while it wasn’t an automatic double play, he wisely chose to walk to avoid a potential double play. Ryu then got Adam Duvall to fly out to right field to end the inning.

In the top of the fourth, Ryu found himself in trouble for the third time on the day after an error by third baseman Matt Chapman and a single by Dalbec. However, he induced a grounder to shortstop against Maguire and got out of the jam with a shortstop-second baseman-to-first baseman double play to preserve the one-run lead.

The biggest disappointment of the day was the fact that he had to leave the game in the fifth inning, but that’s how important it was. Ryu gave up a single to Lefsnider and a walk to Devers to put runners on second and third in the fifth, but the Toronto bench had already moved quickly to bring in Garcia. Taking over for Ryu, Garcia struck out Duvall to end the inning, leaving Ryu with eight runners on base and no outs.

Universe to Toronto?

In Major League Baseball, the three teams with the best winning percentage in each division, excluding the first-place team in each district, can punch their ticket to the postseason via the wild card. Toronto was in the second wild card spot until the last 12 games. But after a shocking four-game sweep of Texas on Dec. 12-15, they quickly dropped to fourth place and their chances of making the postseason seemed to vanish.

However, the Jays reeled off back-to-back wins on Dec. 16-17, while Texas and Seattle were on a losing streak, and Toronto moved back up to third place. The American League, of which Toronto is a part, is currently dominated by the Tampa Bay Rays in first place, with Toronto, Texas, and Seattle battling it out for the second and third spots. Only 0.5 to 1 game separates the three teams.

Toronto had the pleasure of taking all three games from Boston. Toronto took the early lead in the first game. After Cavan Biggio drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the second, Matt Chapman hit his 37th double of the season to put runners on second and third. Kevin Kiermaier followed with an RBI single of his own to make it 1-0.

Despite some shaky pitching, Hyun-jin Ryu pitched a scoreless inning to preserve the one-run lead and give Toronto a mid-game cushion. Toronto broke through in the bottom of the fifth inning when Dalton Basho took Boston starter Nick Pivetta to eight pitches before finally scooping up an 80.6 mph (129.7 km/h) curveball. The pitch was so well placed that Basho knew it was a home run as soon as it left his bat, and the 108.3 mph (174.3 km/h) fastball sailed over the right field fence.

Bashaw added an insurance run, but it wasn’t enough. Boston took the reins late in the game. In the top of the seventh, the Red Sox put runners on first and second with a leadoff walk to Lefthander and a hit-by-pitch to Devers, and Reyes drove in the go-ahead run off Toronto reliever Hennessis Cabrera to cut the deficit to 2-1. And in the top of the ninth, Devers hit a solo shot to tie the game. 바카라사이트

But it was Toronto who had the last laugh.  Biggio singled with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth. Chapman followed with a big hit off Boston’s Garrett Whitlock. The pitch hit the center field fence, sending Biggio racing home to cap off a thrilling three-game sweep of the Rays. With Texas falling to Cleveland on the same day, Toronto jumped into the second wild card spot regardless of the outcome of Seattle’s game.