Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
Ryu's June Struggles Carry Into July
Teoscar Hernández cut off the liner right field, firing into the infield soon enough to stop J.P. Crawford at third. It prevented a run with no outs in the first, but only delayed the damage.
In the next at bat, Kyle Seager plated Crawford with an infield single, and Ty France followed with a sac fly. Before Toronto stepped to the plate, they were down two.
On his career, Hyun Jin Ryu has allowed just a 2.96 ERA in the first three innings of ball games. In 2021, that mark has risen to 3.20, and a short five-run outing Thursday will push that ERA higher. For the last month, Ryu has been unlike the dominant locating ace the Blue Jays quickly got used to. With a 25 pitch first inning and two Mariners homers Thursday, Ryu’s June struggles carried into July.
“His command, today was his command," Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo said. “He’s not commanding all of his pitches and he’s one of those guys that needs to command.”
It was clear something was off early, and not just the lack of red in the stands for a Blue Jays Canada Day home game. In the top of the second, Ryu took a step toward the Blue Jays dugout, but the home plate umpire signaled his two-strike fastball was an inch outside the zone.
With the called ball, Ryu stepped back on the rubber, attempting to work in on Seattle outfielder Jake Fraley. His fifth pitch was a changeup hoping for the inside black before drifting back over the plate. The ball was caught in deep right field, by a fan in the third row.
In June, Ryu sported a 4.88 ERA, his highest runs against in any month as a Blue Jay. On Thursday, he was visibly frustrated. On a borderline call in the second inning, he leaned back and stared in at the umpire, and after a full-count miss the next frame, he slapped his hand into his glove.
"There's gonna be games like that, and there's gonna be calls you wish you had in your favor," Ryu said. "But my command was a little off today so that's what I was more worried about."
Ryu’s recent struggles stem from a lack of changeup control, but the cause is perplexing. Opponents are hitting .250 against Ryu's signature pitch in 2021 (.185 batting average against in 2020) and he's drawing 30 percent fewer whiffs on the pitch. On Thursday, Ryu continually went to the outside corner with his fastball and change but drew sparse swings and even rarer called strikes.
"The command and overall with the changeup right now is not like back in April or May," Ryu said. "So I stuck with a lot of my fastball and cutter.
What made Saturday sourer for the Blue Jays was that one lefty was dominating. In the bottom of the third Santiago Espinal slashed at a high cutter, dropping Yusei Kikuchi’s pitch on the infield grass for a seventh straight ground ball out.
Seattle’s ace finished the game with seven innings pitched, one earned run, and forced the Blue Jays into a pair of double plays. Commanding the strike zone and keeping the ball on the ground, Kikuchi showed Toronto exactly what they had gotten used to from their rotation frontman, and what they need Ryu to find again.
