Take-aways: The Blue Jays put away the bats for another Hyun-Jin Ryu start

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This article was published 07/04/2021 (1678 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The view from Deep Left Field on Wednesday’s Blue Jays-Rangers game:

Making his second start of the season, lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu was pretty much just as good as he was in his first. He allowed only two runs, both in the second inning, just as he did on opening day in The Bronx, though in Texas he managed to get five more outs using two fewer pitches, becoming the first Jays starter this season to complete seven innings.

But the Jays’ bats were silent, as has been the pattern for pretty much Ryu’s entire tenure with the team. Toronto didn’t score until Marcus Semien’s eighth-inning solo homer, the Jays’ only run in their 2-1 loss to the Rangers.

In Ryu’s 14 starts with Toronto, the team has scored more than three runs for him only three times.

So far, that limited run support has mostly been enough, as the Jays had won 10 of Ryu’s 13 regular-season starts going into Wednesday, but the lack of offence for Ryu brings back memories of the great Dave Stieb, who won the American League ERA title in 1985, a year the Blue Jays won 99 games, and had just 14 wins to show for it in 36 starts.

• Sometimes you’re the bug: As well as Ryu pitched Wednesday, Texas starter Kyle Gibson was that much better, hardly allowing the Jays to get their heads above water over his six shutout innings. The tall righty was really only in trouble once, in the fifth inning when the Jays loaded the bases with one out. Joe Panik singled, Danny Jansen hit a ground ball that ate up third baseman Charlie Culberson and was generously scored a double, and Marcus Semien walked.

Gibson bent, but didn’t break, though he got very lucky. His next pitch was a curveball, low and away, that Cavan Biggio hammered up the middle at 100.8 miles per hour off the bat. Thanks to the shift, it was right at shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who just had to step on the bag at second and throw to first to complete the rally-killing double play.

It was an unexpected tour de force from Gibson, especially seeing how he managed to record only one out in his last start, on opening day, while giving up five runs to Kansas City. But he was full measure for the win. He pitched ahead to pretty much every batter he faced, only ran up a pair of three-ball counts over six innings, and got seven outs on the first or second pitch of an at-bat. Yes, the Blue Jays’ offence has been underwhelming to start the season, but sometimes it’s because the other guy just pitched really well.

• Good things happen when you hit the ball hard: Once again, the hardest-hit ball of the game came off the bat of Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. — a second-inning double at 113.6 miles per hour that seemed to get over Culberson’s head before he even had a chance to jump for it.

It was the second straight time, and third in the six games so far this year, that Guerrero has had the hardest-hit ball of the game and the mighty clouts have helped him to a .316/.458/.526 line to start the season.

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Guerrero’s batting average on balls in play is the highest it has ever been, at .357, and while that usually is an indicator of some good batted-ball luck, it might be different with young Vlad. The fact that he hits the ball so hard on a regular basis means that he’ll get hits on balls in play that many other hitters won’t, especially if he can keep hitting balls in the air, something that he’s definitely improved on so far this season.

Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @wilnerness