Blue Jays' Ryu Hyun-jin takes no-decision in Opening Day start vs. Yankees

▲ In this UPI photo, Ryu Hyun-jin of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches against the New York Yankees in the bottom of the first inning of a Major League Baseball regular season game at Yankee Stadium in New York on April 1, 2021. (Yonhap)

▲ In this Getty Images photo, Ryu Hyun-jin of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches against the New York Yankees in a Major League Baseball regular season game at Yankee Stadium in New York on April 1, 2021. (Yonhap)

MLB-starter

Blue Jays' Ryu Hyun-jin takes no-decision in Opening Day start vs. Yankees

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Apri 2 (Yonhap) -- Toronto Blue Jays' South Korean pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin took a no-decision in his third straight Opening Day start, as he worked around an early home run and got bailed out by an opportunistic offense.

Ryu was charged with two earned runs on four hits and a walk in 5 1/3 innings against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in the Big Apple on Thursday (local time). The left-hander left the game with the score tied at 2-2 and a runner at first with one out in the sixth inning. Reliever Tyler Chatwood got the next two outs to keep the score deadlocked.

Ryu struck out five batters. His lone blemish was a two-run home run by Gary Sanchez in the bottom of the second.

Ryu had also started the first games of each of the past two seasons: 2019 with the Los Angeles Dodgers and 2020 with the Blue Jays.

He entered this contest with a 1-2 record and a 6.04 ERA in four previous starts against the Yankees, with seven long balls in 22 1/3 innings. And once again, a home run ball was Ryu's kryptonite.

Ryu pitched a clean first inning and recorded a pair of strikeouts with fastballs at 91 mph -- first against Aaron Judge and then Aaron Hicks.

The Blue Jays spotted Ryu a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, thanks to three straight singles against starter Gerrit Cole to start the frame.

But Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez, batting seventh, made that lead disappear with one swing of his bat. With a runner at first, Sanchez jumped on a first-pitch fastball over the middle of the plate, and drove it 407 feet into left field for a two-run blast.

Ryu settled down after that blast, though, retiring the next nine batters in a row.

Then with two outs in the bottom fifth, Ryu walked Jay Bruce and gave up a single to Clint Frazier, before retiring DJ LeMahieu on a groundout to second.

The Blue Jays evened the score at 2-2 in the top sixth, with a homer of their own. It was Teoscar Hernandez doing the damage against Cole with a 437-feet moon shot into left.

The Yankees tried to rally against Ryu in the bottom half of that inning. Judge led off with a single against Ryu, who erased him on a forceout at second base following a grounder off the bat of Hicks.

Then with the dangerous Giancarlo Stanton coming up to face Ryu for the third time in the game, the Blue Jays summoned Chatwood from the bullpen.

Ryu made 92 pitches, 53 of them for strikes. He threw 33 changeups, 26 cutters, 25 four-seam fastballs, seven curveballs and one sinker.

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