Ryu’s official records revised from 2 earned runs to 1

The Toronto Blue Jays held a home game against the Baltimore Orioles at Sahlen Field on Saturday. When The Blue Jays were leading the game 2-0 with two outs and the bases full in the top of the sixth inning, Ryu Hyun-jin threw a changeup (130 kilometers per hour) pitch towards the low outer section for right-handed batter Ryan Mountcastle. The batter only hit a normal grounder towards the third baseman. Then, third baseman Travis Shaw threw the ball to the ground rather than the first baseman’s mitt. As first baseman Vladimir Guerrero missed the ball, two Orioles runners made it all the way to the home base.

The official scorer initially determined this as the third baseman’s error. In this case, Ryu will not add any earned run to his records. However, soon thereafter the official scorer changed it to an infield hit. As a result, Ryu ended up adding two earned runs to his records. Many watchers criticized the recording as unacceptable. “My team and coaching staff will address the issue,” he said, making the remarks in expectation that his team would make an appeal. When he was playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers in a game against the Boston Red Sox on July 15 last year, his team made an appeal and nullified two earned runs. At the time, the infield hit on official records was in Korean.


Kyu-In Hwang kini@donga.com