Blue Jays takeaways: Hyun-Jin Ryu teases us into thinking a complete game — a nine-inning complete game — is possible

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This article was published 26/06/2021 (1605 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The view from Deep Left Field on the Blue Jays’ 12-4 win over Baltimore on Saturday:

Coming off another late-inning loss on Friday night, Hyun-Jin Ryu settled things down brilliantly Saturday, and for a while it appeared as though he was set to do something the Blue Jays hadn’t seen in a long time.

The left-hander needed only 49 pitches to get through five shutout innings, and there was reason to believe that Ryu was going to be able to finish what he started and throw the Jays’ first nine-inning complete game in more than four years.

The Jays were spoiled by Hall of Famer Roy Halladay, who threw 49 complete games while he was in Toronto, leading the league five times. In the 11-plus seasons since Halladay was traded to Philadelphia, Jays pitchers have combined to throw only 34 complete games.

The last was one a joke: Knuckleballer Ryan Feierabend got credit for a complete game in a rain-shortened outing against the White Sox in 2019, but he only threw four innings because the game was called midway through the fifth inning with the home team leading.

Marcus Stroman had the last nine-inning complete game for the Jays, a win over the Angels in Anaheim on April 23, 2017. It was his second of the month.

Ryu was in good shape Saturday, averaging 10 pitches per inning through six and cruising with a 12-run lead, but Baltimore’s Anthony Santander doubled off the wall in centre with one out in the seventh to snap a streak of 15 straight hitters retired. And a couple of batters later, with two on and two out and Ryu at only 77 pitches, the wheels fell right off.

Ryu walked Maikel Franco, who had just a 5.5 per cent walk rate for the season, Pedro Severino and Pat Valaika singled, and Cedric Mullins chased the Jays starter with a two-run double. It was Ryu’s 29th pitch of the inning.

It didn’t matter as far as the result, and relievers Jacob Barnes and Joel Payamps were perfect the rest of the way, but it would have been fun for a Jays pitcher to go nine innings. Some day.

• Displeasing the gods: With the Jays up 8-0, and with Toronto runners on second and third with two out in the bottom of the sixth, the Orioles chose not to pitch to Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Guerrero, who had earlier hit a two-run homer to move back into the major-league lead with 26, wasn’t intentionally walked but none of Konner Wade’s four pitches were anywhere near the strike zone.

I can understand pitching around the Jays’ young slugger in a situation where he could really hurt you, but the game was already a blowout and there was no reason not to let Wade, who was making his major-league debut, try to get him out.

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Clearly, the baseball gods felt the same way. After the unintentional intentional walk, the Jays followed with three straight singles to extend the lead to 12-0.

• Four score: The Jays didn’t do much against Orioles starter Keegan Akin in their first trip through the batting order — their only hit was a Randal Grichuk infield single — but their second look at the rookie left-hander went much better.

Marcus Semien and Bo Bichette hit back-to-back doubles with two out in the third, and Guerrero and Teoscar Hernandez followed with back-to-back homers to give the Blue Jays a quick 4-0 lead.

That was the theme of the game as the Jays had four-run innings in the fifth and six, and the Orioles scored all four of their runs in the seventh.

It’s a rare game when the inning-by-inning linescore shows only zeroes and fours.

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