The 2018 regular season may have been a struggle at times for the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the postseason began in the complete opposite way as they got an early lead and then cruised to a 6-0 victory over the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.
A big reason for that was the performance of Hyun-Jin Ryu, who pitched one of the best games of his career. Ryu allowed just four singles over seven shutout innings, striking out eight compared to zero walks.
Per ESPN Stats & Info, Ryu joined elite company in Dodgers franchise history on Friday night as he was just the fourth pitcher to log seven scoreless innings in two postseason starts:
This is Hyun-Jin Ryu's 2nd career postseason start of 7 scoreless innings (2013 NLCS).
The only other Dodgers to do it multiple times are Sandy Koufax, Jerry Reuss and Orel Hershiser. pic.twitter.com/l9GV2Aopwd
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 5, 2018
Additionally, according to Stats by STATS, Ryu was also just the fourth pitcher to strike out eight without allowing a run, and was the first to do that without walking a batter:
Hyun-Jin Ryu is the 4th @Dodgers pitcher with 8+ strikeouts and 0 runs allowed in a playoff game, and Clayton Kershaw isn't one of them.
Ryu joins Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax (twice) and Orel Hershiser.
Ryu is the only one to have 8+ strikeouts, 0 runs and 0 walks.#LADetermined
— Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) October 5, 2018
Max Muncy carried the load on offense for the Dodgers, hitting a big three-run home run off Braves starter Mike Foltynewicz. He also walked three times in the game, becoming the fourth player in Major League history to drive in three and walk three times in a postseason game:
Max Muncy of the @Dodgers is only the fourth player ever with 3+ RBI and 3+ walks in a playoff game. The others? Eddie Murray (1983), Barry Bonds (2002) and Manny Ramirez (2007). #LADetermined
— Stats By STATS (@StatsBySTATS) October 5, 2018
Neither Ryu nor Muncy played a single postseason game for the Dodgers just a year ago, so it is a bit ironic that they were the two main contributes in the first game this year.
They are both coming off fantastic regular seasons though, so it wasn’t necessarily a surprise to see either do what they did on Friday night.
