Ryu eyes 15 season wins in Major League debut year

Ryu Hyun-jin of the LA Dodgers will seek his 15th win in his team final game of this season against the Colorado Rockies, which will take place in Los Angeles at 5:10 a.m. Sunday (Korean time). If he succeeds, he will become the Asian pitcher with most wins in this season of the U.S. Major League baseball.

Ryu has 14 wins (seven losses, earned run average of 2.97) as of Friday. It is the same number of wins as Seattle Mariners right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma (14 wins, six losses, 2.66 ERA). Iwakuma finished this season by garnering win in a game against the Kansas City Royals on Thursday, and has no more chance to pitch in this season. Yu Darvish of the Texas Rangers (13 wins, nine losses, 2.82 ERA), will also pitch in a game against the LA Angeles on the same day as Ryu, but he will only achieve 14 wins, if successful. Hiroki Kuroda of the New York Yankees, another Japanese pitcher, only has 11 wins (13 losses, 3.31).

Even with 14 wins, Ryu has achieved better than expected performance. Ryu already outperformed Hideo Nomo (13 wins, six loses, 2.54 ERA), who won the rookie of the year award as LA Dodgers pitcher in 1995. Ryu is also tying the record of first year full-time pitching by fellow Korean pitcher Park Chan-ho (14 wins, eight losses, 3.38 ERA in 1997), who is the Asian pitcher with most wins in the Major League. He is also tying with Kazuhisa Ishii who had 14 wins in 2002 among the Asian pitchers who debuted in the Major League at the Dodgers. With one additional win, Ryu will secure the title of the Asian pitcher with most wins this season, and the pitcher with most wins among the rookie pitchers from Asia who debuted in the U.S. league through the Dodgers.

By winning the game against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday, Ryu lowered his ERA to the 2 point level, and topped 150 strikeouts. If Ryu, who has pitched 188 innings this season, pitches more than five innings in the last game he starts, and maintains his ERA at the 2 point level, he will become the first among the rookie pitchers in the Dodgers to achieve 15 wins, 150 strikeouts, 190 innings, and earned run average at 2 point level