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Dodgers’ Ryu Hyun-jin hoping to build on outstanding start

April 11, 2018
Ryu Hyun-jin of the Los Angeles Dodgers speaks at a press conference after beating the Oakland Athletics in a major league regular season game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on April 10, 2018. (Yonhap)

Ryu Hyun-jin of the Los Angeles Dodgers speaks at a press conference after beating the Oakland Athletics in a major league regular season game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on April 10, 2018. (Yonhap)

LOS ANGELES, April 10 (Yonhap) — Los Angeles Dodgers’ South Korean pitcher, Ryu Hyun-jin, said Tuesday he hopes to build on the outstanding start he had against the Oakland Athletics earlier in the day at home.

Ryu threw six shutout innings and limited the helpless A’s lineup to just one single in the Dodgers’ 4-0 victory. The left-hander struck out eight and walked just one to earn his first win of the 2018 season.

He threw 90 pitches, 60 of them for strikes. And Ryu exhibited great command of his pitches, especially his curveball and cutter, an encouraging development after he walked five batters and gave up five hits in just 3 2/3 innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday.

“It’d be great if I can keep throwing the curve the way I did today,” he said. “I am not an overpowering pitcher, so if I can command my pitches, I can have a relatively easy time on the mound. If I keep leaving pitches out over the plate, I get knocked around like in my first start this season.”

Ryu said he felt better physically than in his previous outing, and he wanted to attack the hitters from the first inning.

“I hate giving up walks, and in that last game, I allowed a bases-loaded walk for the first time in my 22 years of playing baseball,” Ryu said. “I kept them in mind today and I stayed aggressive. I went to the full count a few times but I also struck out a lot.”

Ryu also noted that he tried to pitch in a different style than in the past, saying he went from relying heavily on changeup as his go-to pitch to mixing in several different pitches.

Ryu carried a no-hitter into the fifth, and Stephen Piscotty broke the bid with a single with two outs in that frame. Ryu said he wasn’t thinking about tossing a no-no and he was just happy to keep the A’s off the board.

Ryu also reached base twice from the plate, with a single and a walk.

“I always think about trying to get a hit when I step up to the plate,” he said. “(Getting the hit Tuesday) was one of the good things that happened.”