Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Hyun-jin Ryu used his spectacular “rainbow curveball” to cook the Cincinnati Reds and pick up his second win of the season. 

Ryu Hyun-jin started against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S., on June 21 (ET) and pitched five innings, throwing 83 pitches, allowing four hits, one walk, seven strikeouts and two runs (unearned) to earn his second win of the season.

In his first start back from Tommy John surgery, Ryu had a disappointing outing against the Baltimore Orioles, allowing four runs (four earned) on nine hits over five innings. But it was a completely different story on Aug. 8 against the Cleveland Indians. Ryu left the mound after just four innings after being hit in the knee by a 97.7 mph (157.2 km/h) bullet, but he raised expectations by pitching a no-hitter.

And in his last start, he made it clear that the “Korean Monster” was back. Ryu threw five innings against the Chicago Cubs, striking out just two batters and walking none, allowing two runs (unearned) to earn his first win of the season in 444 days. The good momentum from his first win carried over to today’s start, and he enjoyed his first “winning streak” in 451 days since the Cincinnati-Angels game on May 21 last year.

Like his previous start against the Cubs, Ryu gave up two runs (unearned) due to errors in the outfield. However, the Toronto offense exploded out of the gate, taking the pressure off Ryu’s shoulders and allowing him to pitch in a relatively comfortable situation. As a result, Ryu struck out a season-high seven batters and cooked the Cincinnati lineup, lowering his ERA from 2.57 to 1.89.

3: Generation changes, defense didn’t help, but he was strong against Cincinnati

Ryu had been very strong against Cincinnati in his career before this game, going 5-2 with a 3.23 ERA in eight starts (47⅓ innings). The only variable is that the Cincinnati of today is not the Cincinnati of yesteryear. While Cincinnati was never a “powerhouse,” the Reds are now a team that is in contention for a postseason berth, thanks to a surge of potential from their young prospects. But Ryu Hyun-jin was still too much for Cincinnati.

Ryu got off to a good start in the first inning, striking out the top of the order of Stuart Fairchild, Matt McClain, and Eli De La Cruz. However, a defensive miscue nearly cost him. In the second inning, Ryu gave up singles to Spencer Steer and Christian Encarnacion-Stand to put runners on first and third. Here’s where things got tricky.

Ryu got Noelby Marte to fly out to left field with runners on first and third, and left fielder Dalton Basho’s strong shoulder prevented the runner at third from sprinting home, but Chapman’s throw to catch the runner running for second sailed into center field, putting two runners on base.

But the defensive miscues didn’t deter Ryu from his cruise. Ryu threw a scoreless third inning with two strikeouts. After holding the Cincinnati bats to a triple in the fourth, Ryu retired T.J. Hopkins, McClain, and De La Cruz with runners on first and second in the fifth to preserve the win.

Ryu’s ‘rainbow curve’ shines again today

After returning from his second Tommy John surgery, Ryu noticed a noticeable change in his pitching pattern. He throws fewer cutters and more curveballs. In his previous three appearances, Ryu had drawn a lot of attention for his curveball, and on this day, the “rainbow curve” shined. Ryu threw a total of 16 curveballs on the day, and they were effective enough to induce seven swings and misses.

Of the seven strikeouts, Ryu induced three with curves: a 66.2-mph (106.5-kilometer) rainbow curveball that struck out De La Cruz with one out in the fourth inning, and a 66.8-mph (107.5-kilometer) curveball that froze De La Cruz in his tracks to escape a two-on, one-out jam in the fifth inning.

Major League Baseball pitching analyst Rob Friedman, who runs Pitching Ninja, posted a video of Ryu getting De La Cruz to swing and miss on social media, captioning it “Hyun Jin Ryu, Pretty 66mph Curveball” with a rainbow emoji.

2 wins in a row for Toronto on the road

Toronto took the early lead in the game. In the first inning, Bo Bissett, who had just returned to the big league diamond the day before after shaking off a knee injury, led off with a triple to left field off Cincinnati starter Hunter Green. Brandon Belt then hit a routine grounder to short that Cincinnati second baseman Matt McClain misplayed, allowing Bissett to score and give the Reds an easy lead.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t capitalize. After Belt reached on an error, George Springer also hit a routine grounder to third base, but this time Noelby Marte made a throwing error, leaving all runners alive and with opportunities at first and third. However, they were unable to capitalize as the next batter, Dalton Bashaw, struck out.

However, the Toronto offense bombed the Cincinnati mound in the second inning. After a Danny Jansen double put runners in scoring position, Kevin Kiermaier blasted a two-run homer over the right field fence, and after a Whit Merrifield double, Belt blasted a two-run homer of his own to extend the lead to 5-0.

If the top of the first inning was all about Cincinnati’s defense, the bottom of the second was a parade of errors for Toronto. Ryu gave up singles to Spencer Steer and Christian Encarnacion-Stand to put runners on first and third, and after getting Noelby Marte to fly out to left field, Dalton Bashaw made a strong play to prevent the runners from advancing to third, but Matt “Cutman” Chapman’s throw to catch the runner at second sailed into center field, allowing all three runners to score and cut the deficit to 5-2.

After the disappointing defense put the ‘burden’ on Ryu, the Toronto bats responded with ‘firepower’, drawing three arches in the third inning alone. Bisset and Belt hit back-to-back homers in the bottom of the inning to make it 7-2, and Springer blasted a two-run shot with the bases loaded after Guerrero Jr. drew a walk to put the game out of reach. 온라인바카라

Cincinnati made a late charge with a run in the bottom of the seventh, but closing the gap proved difficult. Toronto tacked on another run in the top of the ninth to secure the 10-3 victory, and Ryu Hyun-jin, who got the start on the mound, picked up his second straight win and second of the season.