Ryu Hyun-jin, 36, of the Toronto Blue Jays, recorded his first quality start of the season against the hard-hitting Texas Rangers, allowing three earned runs or fewer in six or more innings of work.The right-hander allowed three runs (three earned) on five hits (one home run) with one walk and five strikeouts in six innings against Texas in the 2023 Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Wednesday. His ERA increased slightly from 2.65 to 2.93.It has been 480 days since Ryu achieved a QS since 21 May last year, when he threw six scoreless innings against the Cincinnati Reds.Ryu returned to the big leagues last month after undergoing left elbow ligament splicing surgery (Tommy John surgery) in August last year, and had pitched five innings or less in each of his previous seven outings.On this day, Ryu pitched a stellar first inning.In the top of the first inning, Ryu used his sharp fastball to get the bases loaded. He gave up a single to Robbie Grossman, but retired all three batters he faced to get out of the jam.The second inning ended with a triple play. He got leadoff hitter Jonah Heim to ground out to third and Nathaniel Law to fly out to left.Ezequiel Duran broke up the at-bat with a slow curveball and induced a fly ball to centre field.The third inning was perfect. Slow curveballs and fastballs on the edge of the strike zone were the order of the day.Ryu struck out both Leandro Taveras and Jonathan Onelas with pitches that were well inside the strike zone. Marcus Simeon struck out on a cut fastball in the outside corner of the strike zone.The problem was the fourth inning. The Texas hitters came out of the gate looking for strikes, as if they had a plan.Ryu gave up a leadoff single to Corey Seager and a double to Robbie Grossman in the next at-bat.The first pitch was a 137.9-kilometre cut fastball that Grossman smashed over the left-field fence.Ryu got the next batter, March Garber, to ground out to shortstop, but gave up another single to Hahn. This time, he was hit by a fastball.Ryu then made a smart pitch to get out of the jam at first base. He got Roh to ground out to short with a slower curveball, and Duran 스포츠토토 induced an infield grounder with a curveball.
