Ryu Hyun-jin struggles in first game of 2022 season

Ryu Hyun-jin of the Toronto Blue Jays delivers a pitch in the first inning during an MLB game against the Texas Rangers at Rogers Centre in Toronto on Sunday. [AFP/YONHAP]

Ryu Hyun-jin's season got off to an inauspicious start on Sunday, with the Toronto Blue Jays lefty giving up six runs and taking a line drive to the leg in his three and one third innings on the mound against the Texas Rangers at Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Ryu didn't get off to a bad start, retiring the Rangers in order in the first inning with two groundouts and a pop out. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, went up by four with two home runs to kick off the game and at least ensure that Ryu wasn't hit with a loss to start his season.

Ryu struck out to start the second, before giving up a solo homer to Nick Solak that got the Rangers on the board. A groundout closed out the top of the inning and the Blue Jays added another home run of their own at the bottom to take the score to 5-1.

The Korean ace gave up his first walk of the game at the top of the third, but two strikeouts and a groundout got rid of that threat. The Blue Jays added another home run at the bottom of the inning to go up 6-1 going into the fourth.

The fourth is where things went wrong. Ryu gave up a walk to open the inning, before getting the first out with a forceout that left a runner on first. A double brought home that runner, followed by two singles to bring around the runner from second.

A third single brought home another run, putting the score at 6-4 to the Blue Jays while the Rangers only had one out and two runners on base. That hit deflected off Ryu's leg effectively ending his game. The Korean lefty was able to walk off the pitch unaided, with Julian Merryweather taking over on the mound.

Merryweather gave up a double that brought both runners home, slapping Ryu with the two runs. He later gave up another run to put the Texas team ahead, leaving him stuck with the loss.

Texas added another five runs over the remaining innings while the Blue Jays were unable to reignite the fire after such a rapid turnaround, scoring no more runs and ending the game with the score at 12-6.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]