Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
Hyun-jin Ryu‘s return to the majors was unceremonious. He made it through just four and two-thirds innings, allowing six earned runs on eight hits and two walks (one intentional) while striking out four. He threw 89 pitches, 55 for strikes. The 84 pitches he threw in his final rehab start was his previous high for the season.
Five of the eight hits Ryu allowed went for extra bases, including the first at bat of the game, when Melvin Upton welcomed Ryu back rather rudely by launching a 92 MPH fastball into the right field pavilion. 92 MPH is what Ryu would top out at tonight, and it was somewhat encouraging to see him hit that mark repeatedly. We’ll continue to keep an eye on his velocity as the season goes on.
What Ryu did tonight didn’t seem to matter much for this particular game, as Drew Pomeranz — easily the best pitcher the Padres have, and having a great season by any standards — shut the Dodgers down pretty thoroughly. Pomeranz delivered seven scoreless innings tonight, allowing five Dodger baserunners (two hits, two walks and a hit batter) and striking out six before coming out at 105 pitches.
Carlos Frias, recalled today from Triple-A, did precisely what he’s here to do: provided some much-needed long relief. His first two frames were clean, and while he had to work a bit harder in the eighth inning, he managed to maneuver around a single, double and a walk to keep the Padres from scoring again. He finished the night with four scoreless innings.
Trayce Thompson deserves some credit for a couple of nice catches he made, both to rob Matt Kemp of extra bases. The one he made in the top of the seventh was especially noteworthy.
This game wasn’t a lot of fun. In addition to the loss, it marked the end of Corey Seager‘s hitting streak at 19 games. Seager went 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts and two men left on base. One of those outs did travel 355 feet at 97 MPH, though.
