Hyun-Jin Ryu’s starts are getting shorter. The Blue Jays’ leash will have to, as well

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This article was published 17/09/2021 (1502 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Hyun-Jin Ryu followed up his shortest regular-season start as a Blue Jay with an even shorter one.

After getting tonged for seven runs while recording only seven outs last weekend in Baltimore, the veteran left-hander was pitching with an extra day of rest Friday as the Jays opened their weekend series at home to the Minnesota Twins.

That extra day is supposed to be the magic formula for the 34-year-old. His ERA for the season when pitching on five days’ rest was three runs lower (2.61 to 5.64) than when pitching with four days’ rest.

Not this time. Ryu threw a perfect first inning, on just 13 pitches, but there was a hint of what was to come when the second batter, Jorge Polanco, hit a fastball 391 feet to centre field. It was hauled in by Corey Dickerson on the warning track after coming off the bat at a sizzling 106.2 miles per hour.

A leadoff walk led to a run in the second, on a two-out double by Brent Rooker, who came to the plate batting just .203. And in the third, the roof fell in. Ryu faced five hitters, retired none of them, and gave up nothing but rockets. The barrage began with a 106-mph single up the middle by Ryan Jeffers and ended with back-to-back home runs by Polanco and returning hero Josh Donaldson.

Five runs allowed, only six outs recorded. Minnesota went on to win 7-3, and the Jays fell out of a wild-card spot, a half-game behind the Yankees, a full game back of Boston.

It was the fourth time in his last eight starts that Ryu has given up at least five runs. His ERA over that span is an ugly 7.49, with hitting a hearty .295 with an .896 OPS.

To put that into perspective, an .896 OPS would currently rank seventh in the American League among individual hitters. So since the first week of August, Ryu has basically made every batter who stands in against him a little bit better than Marcus Semien or Teoscar Hernández.

That’s not what a contending team wants in its rotation down the stretch.

Ryu was brought in to be the Jays’ ace, signed to a four-year, $80-million (U.S.) contract before the 2020 season, the richest deal given to a pitcher in the history of the franchise.

He was certainly that last season, finishing third in American League Cy Young voting, but he has been supplanted this year by Robbie Ray.

That fact alone would be a great thing for the Jays, to have Ray and Ryu as top-of-the-rotation running mates, but Ryu has not only been supplanted as the team’s ace, he’s being outpitched by everybody else in the starting rotation.

José Berríos, acquired in a deadline deal with the Twins, has posted a 3.31 ERA in nine starts as a Jay, a number that is down to 1.98 in his last three starts.

Alek Manoah has muscled his way into rookie of the year contention. His last start was his best, when he allowed one hit over eight innings and lowered his WHIP for the season down to an astonishing 1.03, which would rank third in the league if he had pitched enough innings to qualify.

Steven Matz, who was supposed to be the fifth starter, has been one of the best pitchers in the game in the second half, with a 2.76 ERA since the all-star break.

It’s an embarrassment of riches, really, and it’s the main reason that the Jays have played their way back into contention this month, covering up for the fact that the one who was supposed to lead their rotation has done anything but lately.

The first question: Is Ryu hurt?

He left his Sept. 6 start against the Yankees after six brilliant innings, and 80 pitches, saying that he felt his shoulder was tightening up a bit after incorporating a slider into his repertoire.

It’s easy to point to that as the issue that has knocked him off-stride the past couple of starts but, with the Jays in the thick of a playoff race, would they really send Ryu out to the mound if he wasn’t right? If he’s hurt, he’s not telling them how bad it is.

The next question: Is he done?

The answer to that is a hard no. It doesn’t go away that quickly. When healthy, Ryu has been one of the best pitchers in the majors since he arrived from Korea in 2013. Ryu will find it again, but right now the Jays simply don’t have time to let him figure it out.

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Having used Thursday’s off-day to reshuffle the rotation, keeping Ray on his regular day while pushing Manoah back a couple of spots to give the rookie a bit of a breather, Ryu’s next start is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in the finale of a three-game series at Tampa Bay.

He may get the ball that day, because he is bound to get it going sooner or later, but with an even shorter leash than was on him Friday night. His manager has faith in him.

“There’s always a chance he’ll make an adjustment and be lights out in his next start,” Montoyo said.

Regardless of his skipper’s confidence, unless Ryu turns it around in a big hurry, he can’t be part of the Blue Jays’ playoff rotation, which is an astonishing thing to say given what he was supposed to be for this team.

Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and host of the baseball podcast “Deep Left Field.” Follow him on Twitter: @wilnerness