Looking for his fourth win of the season, “Korean Monster” Ryu Hyun-jin (36, Toronto Blue Jays) faces a tough opponent in a high-pressure situation.
Hyun-jin Ryu will start the 2023 Major League Baseball home game against the Texas Rangers on Aug. 13 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.스포츠토토
After picking up his third win of the season on Aug. 27 against Cleveland, Ryu has gone winless in two September starts. He tossed five innings of two-run ball against the Colorado Rockies on Sept. 3 and the Oakland Athletics on Sept. 7, but was unable to get the win.
Looking for his first win of September, Hyun-jin Ryu will take the mound in somewhat of a pressure situation. Toronto fell to Texas 4-10 in the previous game (Dec. 12), improving to 80-64 on the season (.556 winning percentage). In third place in the American League (AL) East and the second wild-card spot, Toronto trails Texas (79-64, .552 winning percentage) by 0.5 games for the third AL wild-card spot with the previous day’s loss. They are also just one game behind the fourth-place Seattle Mariners (79 wins, 65 losses, .549 winning percentage), who are also looking to climb into the wild-card cutoff. The Rangers will need Ryu to continue to pitch well if they want to make it to fall ball.
The starting lineup is no slouch either. Max Scherzer, 39, is a three-time Cy Young Award winner (once in the AL, twice in the National League). This season, Scherzer is 12-6 with a 3.91 ERA in 26 starts, and while he hasn’t been as dominant as he was last year (11-5 with a 2.29 ERA), he’s been slightly better in Texas (3-2 with a 3.63 ERA) than he was with the New York Mets (9-4 with a 4.01 ERA).
Meanwhile, Texas sent out a lineup with seven right-handed hitters against Ryu. Marcus Semien (second base)-Cory Seager (shortstop)-Robbie Grossman (right field)-Mitch Garber (designated hitter)-Jonah Heim (catcher)-Nathaniel Lowe (first base)-Ezequiel Duran (left field)-Leodie Taveras (center field)-Jonathan Onelas (third base) are the only two left-handed hitters in the lineup. Grossman, Haim, and Taveras are switch-hitters.
Toronto’s lineup is George Springer (right field), Bo Bissett (shortstop), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (designated hitter), Spencer Hawits (first base), Davis Schneider (second base), Cavan Biggio (third base), Dalton Bashaw (left field), Kevin Kiermaier (center field), and Tyler Heinemann (catcher). Heinemann would bat second with Ryu.