LOS ANGELES – If there’s an artistry to pitching, the Dodgers saw what it looked like Tuesday night.
Korean left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu is not a fastball pitcher, but he knows how to throw one. His success comes from mixing his pitches – changeups, fastballs, an occasional curve. His stuff can range from 91 miles an hour to 75.
“It’s fun to watch,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “It’s the art of pitching rather than just looking at the radar gun.”
Ryu pitched a two-hit shutout, beating the Angels 3-0 at Dodger Stadium and sending the Dodgers to their second victory in a row, their longest winning streak in almost two weeks, in the Freeway Series.
They needed it, if for no other reason than to validate their 8-7 win over the Angels on Monday night. Struggling Matt Kemp, dropped from third to fifth in the batting order, broke an 0-for-13 slump with a double in the sixth inning, and light-hitting shortstop Luis Cruz hit a two-run homer in the fifth, his first extra-base hit of the season.
It has been a rare sight this season, but the Dodgers are playing with a purpose. They had Ryu to thank for this one.
“He’s a superstar, man,” Kemp said. “He kept some great hitters off balance. He did a great job.”
In 11 starts this season, Ryu has a 6-2 record and a 2.89 ERA. His two-hitter was the Dodgers’ first since Clayton Kershaw two-hit the Detroit Tigers on June 20, 2011.
He arrived in Los Angeles last December after winning 98 games in seven seasons for the Hanwa Eagles of the Korean Baseball Organization, but he was still an unknown to his new team, who signed him for six years and $36 million.
“It was hard to know what to expect from just seeing the guy on tape and not knowing what the competition level was,” Mattingly said. “But it didn’t take too long to see the way he changes speeds and the deception.”
The Dodgers made one concession to Ryu, 26, this season: They agreed to let him skip bullpen sessions between starts, something virtually every major league pitcher does to keep his arm loose.
“I didn’t have to convince them,” Ryu said through a translator. “I just told them in the beginning that I’m not used to it and I don’t throw bullpen sessions. They were very accepting of that. At this point, I think everything is working out so far.”
Ryu said that pitchers in Korea are used to throwing 125 pitches per start, so their arms need the days off to recuperate in time. The Dodgers allowed him to pass on the usual between-starts sessions, but he takes part in all other workouts reserved for starting pitchers.
Tuesday night, Ryu gave up a one-out single to Howie Kendrick in the second, then retired the next 19 batters in a row before Chris Iannetta’s two-out double in the eighth. Ryu didn’t walk a batter, struck out seven and threw 113 pitches.
Mattingly said Ryu’s fastball is usually in the 88-91 mile-per-hour range but that he was throwing 93 late in the game and even broke off a couple at 95. Contrast that with a 75-mph changeup and it can confound hitters.
“I think he’s a guy whose changeup is so good, and his off-speed is so good, and he uses it a lot,” Mattingly said. “The way he works, all of a sudden he’s throwing more fastballs and guys are looking for the changeup, you have to think about it. As a hitter, you’ve got to have the changeup in the back of your mind.”
Kemp, meanwhile, was hit on the inside of his right elbow by a Joe Blanton pitch in the second inning and left in the top of the ninth because of numbness in his fingers. But Mattingly said he expects the center fielder to play Wednesday when the series resume in Anaheim.
In addition to his double, Kemp flied out to the wall in the fourth inning, an indication he may be finding his stroke.
“I think my second at-bat was my best at-bat of the night,” he said. “I just got under it a little bit, but I made good, solid contact and felt good. As long as I have good at-bats, I’m happy with my day.”
Right now, that’s all the Dodgers can ask.
