In defeating the San Francisco Giants by a final score of 4-3 on Wednesday, the Los Angeles Dodgers successfully snapped a five-game losing streak and jumped into a second-place tie with the Colorado Rockies in the National League West.
Gaining ground in the division was made possible by Hyun-Jin Ryu, who shined in his return from the 60-day disabled list. In his first Major League start since May 2, he tossed six shutout innings and allowed only three hits with six strikeouts.
Ryu’s excellent outing against the Giants continued a recent trend of Dodgers’ starting pitchers stepping up in the midst of a plethora of concerns surrounding the bullpen.
Manager Dave Roberts believes the left-hander’s return to the rotation further bolsters what is already one of the most talented groups in the Majors.
“It’s huge,” Roberts proclaimed. “I’ve said it from the beginning: you win with starting pitching. Our starters have been lights-out. They really have. To get him, that’s a huge boost.
“Now you get some other guys in the ‘pen to eat up innings, but that start, having him as a starter the way he’s throwing the baseball, that’s a big boost for our club.”
In blanking the Giants, Ryu was rather efficient in doing so. He threw 89 pitches — 60 of them for strikes — which matched a season-high. He also notched seven ground balls and at one point had retired 12 consecutive batters.
In seven starts this season, Ryu is 3-0 with a minuscule 1.77 ERA, 2.82 FIP and 0.81 WHIP over 35.2 innings pitched. He’s striking out a career-high 10.6 batters per nine while additionally yielding a personal-low 4.8 hits to boot.
