Dialed-in Ryu Lifts Blue Jays to Game 1 Win Over Texas

After resting 11 days between starts, Blue Jays starter Hyun Jin Ryu found his groove in Sunday's 5-0 win over the Texas Rangers at Sahlen Field.

An ugly misplay by George Springer in center field gifted Joey Gallo a triple to start the second, but Ryu dialed himself in. He struck out John Hicks, got Eli White to weakly pop out, then painted the outside corner with a fastball to freeze David Dahl. That was the only real threat Ryu would face all afternoon. The 34-year-old tossed seven scoreless innings on 83 pitches, allowed just three hits, struck out four and walked one.

Ryu's average four-seam fastball velocity was up a tick and his secondary stuff returned to form. The changeup — a critical pitch to Ryu's gameplan — looked sharp. He kept the pitch down in the zone and got six whiffs on it, more than any of his other pitches. With runners on in the third and Adolis Garcia at the dish, Ryu dropped three straight changes and Garcia swung through all of them.

In previous starts, Ryu said pitching coach Pete Walker noticed him drop his arm-slot during his delivery. This little hitch drained the velocity and effectiveness from his changeup.

"When my changeup wasn't there for me, my elbow was dropping off and swinging wide. I wasn't getting on top of the ball. After fixing that and being able to get on top of the ball again, the speed just came up again," Ryu said through an interpreter.

"This is how I used to throw my changeup even back in Korea, so I'm hoping to keep it this way," Ryu said.

The Blue Jays manufactured some runs off Rangers starter Kolby Allard in the third inning. Marcus Semien delivered an RBI groundout, then Bo Bichette ripped one up the middle to make it 2-0 Toronto. A couple innings later, Danny Jansen knocked his fifth homer of the season off the left field screen.

JaNO doubter 💣 pic.twitter.com/GNZONIGvIr
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) July 18, 2021

The Blue Jays finished the game with eight hits.

Lourdes gets lucky

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had two infield singles in this one, the second of which left the bat at a whopping 55.6 mph and hugged the chalk for a base hit, much to the enjoyment of the Blue Jays dugout.

🍍 @yunitogurriel's got that #PiñaPOWER 😳 pic.twitter.com/6ia6S4MnKr
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) July 18, 2021

In a seven-inning game, an early lead is of added importance. The Blue Jays got just that, their starter went seven innings — removing the need for a bullpen appearance — and the club secured the victory.

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