▲ In this Associated Press photo, Ryu Hyun-jin of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches against the Baltimore Orioles in the bottom of the sixth inning of a Major League Baseball regular season game at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore on June 20, 2021. (Yonhap)
▲ In this Getty Images photo, Kim Kwang-hyun of the St. Louis Cardinals pitches against the Atlanta Braves in the bottom of the first inning of a Major League Baseball regular season game at Truist Park in Atlanta on June 20, 2021. (Yonhap)

MLB-S Korean pitchers

Blue Jays' Ryu, Cardinals' Kim again miss out on chance to win on same day

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, June 21 (Yonhap) -- One pitcher held up his end of the bargain. The other failed to join him in the win column.

For the third time in 2021, the two South Korean left-handers in the majors, Ryu Hyun-jin of the Toronto Blue Jays and Kim Kwang-hyun of the St. Louis Cardinals, started on the same day. And once again, they failed to pick up a victory together.

Ryu got his "W" taken care of earlier Sunday afternoon in Baltimore, where he kept the Orioles to a run on three hits in seven innings in a 7-4 Toronto victory.

In the Sunday Night Baseball game, televised across America on ESPN, Kim gave up just one run in four innings against the Atlanta Braves on the road. But Kim got literally zero offensive support, as the Cardinals were held hitless by Atlanta starter Drew Smyly through 5 1/3 innings and ended up losing 1-0.

Kim fell to 1-5 for the year. He's still looking for his first victory since April 23.

Kim only threw 47 pitches through four innings but was lifted for a pinch hitter, Lane Thomas, in the top fifth as the Cardinals looked for some offensive spark. Thomas flied out to center and the Cardinals finished with just two infield singles for the game.

Back on June 4, both Ryu and Kim suffered losses. Eleven days later, the two left-handers settled for no-decisions.

In 2020, Ryu and Kim started on the same day four times during the regular season, and both won on Sept. 24. They were the first pair of South Korean starters to win on the same day in the majors in 15 years.

Both the Blue Jays and the Cardinals are off on Monday, and the two South Korean pitchers could start together again on the weekend: Ryu at home against the Orioles during a four-game set and Kim in St. Louis against the Pittsburgh Pirates during a four-game series.

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