▲ In this USA Today Sports photo via Reuters, Ryu Hyun-jin of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches against the Baltimore Orioles in the bottom of the third inning of a Major League Baseball regular season game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore on June 20, 2021. (Yonhap)
▲ In this USA Today Sports photo via Reuters, Ryu Hyun-jin of the Toronto Blue Jays (R) reacts to a solo home run by Trey Mancini of the Baltimore Orioles (C) in the bottom of the first inning of a Major League Baseball regular season game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore on June 20, 2021. (Yonhap)
▲ In this USA Today Sports photo via Reuters, Ryu Hyun-jin of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches against the Baltimore Orioles in the bottom of the fourth inning of a Major League Baseball regular season game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore on June 20, 2021. (Yonhap)

MLB-pitcher

Despite long-awaited win, Ryu Hyun-jin still trying to get a grip on changeup

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, June 21 (Yonhap) -- Ryu Hyun-jin had been so unhappy with his changeup command that the Toronto Blue Jays' starter even threw a rare in-between-starts bullpen session to try to correct the issue.

And yet, the South Korean left-hander is still searching for an answer. That he still beat the Baltimore Orioles without his best pitch working Sunday afternoon in Baltimore is a testament to his savvy and versatility.

Ryu limited the Orioles to a run on three hits in seven innings for a 7-4 victory at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, picking up his first win since May 28. Ryu is now 6-4 with a 3.25 ERA.

The lone Baltimore run off Ryu came via Trey Mancini's solo homer in the first inning off a changeup. But Ryu quickly found his footing and didn't give up a hit after the second inning, while his teammates rallied with four runs in the fifth and three more runs in later innings.

The changeup has been Ryu's most-used pitch every season since 2019. This year, he's been throwing it 29.1 percent of the time. But against the Orioles, Ryu only offered 17 changeups out of his 100 pitches. He didn't throw one in the third inning.

"The changeup is the pitch I have the most confidence in, and it can induce soft contact," Ryu said in his postgame Zoom session. "If I have trouble with that pitch, then I have to alter my entire game plan. It makes things that much more difficult for me."

Fortunately for Ryu, he had his other pitches working. He threw his four-seam fastball 43 percent of the time -- well above his season average of 27.6 percent -- and mixed in 24 cutters. Combined, those two pitches resulted in 10 whiffs on 33 swings, compared with just one whiff generated by 11 changeups.

"Other than the changeup, my cutter and fastball were really good today, and they helped me get through seven innings," Ryu said.

As for hitting 93.6 mph with his four-seamer, his highest velocity this season, Ryu smiled and said: "I don't know where that came from. It just happened."

Ryu said he has experienced problems with his changeup before and will "do whatever it takes" to get things back on track.

"I've been giving up home runs on that pitch, and my misses have been too much outside the zone," said Ryu, who has served up four home runs on his changeup this year, after surrendering two on the same pitch in 2020. "I've been watching videos, and I even threw in the bullpen. I threw a few good changeups later in this game, and hopefully I'll be able to build on that."

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