Hyun-Jin Ryu pitched five shutout innings and picked up the win in his first outing of the season, but he injured his toe in the process and is questionable to start during the Dodgers’ next series in San Diego.
The Dodgers swept the Arizona Diamondbacks in their two-game opening series in Australia with a 7-5 win behind Ryu’s solid pitching performance. The 26-year-old struck out five batters and gave up only two hits and a walk while holding the D-backs scoreless for five innings.
Dodgers manager Don Mattingly replaced Ryu with Chris Withrow at the start of the sixth inning for precautionary reasons after the southpaw started feeling discomfort in his right foot.
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Ryu hurt his toe after getting on base with a single in the third inning. He seemingly put too much weight on his foot when he stopped on a dime after going around third base on Dee Gordon’s double and hurt his toe nail. In the fifth inning, he was visibly feeling pain in his right foot as he lost his footing on a pitch and stepped out of the mound. Mattingly pulled Ryu as the Dodgers were up 5-0.
“I didn’t go as long as I would have liked,” Ryu said after the game, according to MLB.com. “I like to go more than five innings.”
Ryu’s older and a good friend traveled to Australia from Korea to watch him pitch, according to ESPN. Ryu said he enjoyed his time there but declined to sample kangaroo.
He is scheduled to start when the Dodgers resume regular season play next week against the San Diego Padres, but Mattingly may rest Ryu if his toenail doesn’t recover in time.
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