O's game blog: O's face Hyun Jin Ryu making his 2023 season debut

TORONTO – As the Orioles look for another American League East win tonight, they will face Toronto left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu, who is making his season debut and pitching in the majors for the first time since June 1, 2022.

In that game he gave up three runs over four innings versus the Chicago White Sox, and later that month needed Tommy John surgery. He pitched just 27 innings last year, going 2-0 with a 5.67 ERA in six games before his surgery.

He makes his return tonight and the Blue Jays say they will temporarily go with a six-man rotation to give their other starters an extra day's rest.

Ryu pitched in four minor league rehab games, two at Triple-A, and allowed an ERA of 2.00. In 18 innings he allowed 13 hits with one walk, 16 strikeouts and 0.778 WHIP.

Over the weekend he pitched a final bullpen session as a tune-up for tonight.

“It was great,” Toronto manager John Schneider told reporters. “He was kind of working through PitchCom stuff with the transmitter and getting used to that. Location was spot on, like it always is. He’s ready to roll. He looked really good.”

Opposing him tonight is O’s right-hander Kyle Bradish (6-6, 3.29 ERA), who will be making his 20^th start. He gave up five runs over 6 2/3 innings at Philadelphia. But in the seven starts before that one, Bradish pitched to a 1.62 ERA, allowing a .184 batting average and .532 OPS.

Bradish’s season has featured 12 starts in which he's allowed no more than two earned runs, and he's logged 10 quality starts. The Orioles are 11-8 in his games.

He’s been effective against both left- and right-handed batters. He gives up a .242 batting average and .665 OPS to lefties, and the numbers are .231/.650 versus righties.

In his only start of the year against Toronto, he gave up just one run on four hits in seven innings June 14. He is 0-3 with a 5.59 ERA in six career starts.

Ryan Mountcastle drove in three runs with a double and sac fly and Gunnar Henderson hit a solo homer, No. 17, in the Birds’ 4-2 win Monday night. The Orioles are 65-51 and leading the AL East by 1 1/2 games over Tampa Bay and 6 1/2 over the Blue Jays. Toronto had won 14 of its last 21 before losing the series opener.

The Orioles, who are 33-20 on the road, have won three of four, eight of 12 and 16 of 22 games.

Baltimore is 6-1 versus Toronto and 4-0 this year at Rogers Centre. They’ve held Toronto to 23 runs in seven games, and the Blue Jays are batting .271 with a .759 OPS against the O’s. Their 3.29 runs per game versus the Orioles is their fewest against any AL East team. By comparison, they score 6.00 runs per game against Tampa Bay.

Mountcastle opened the scoring in the first inning last night with a two-run double to right. He has reached base safely in each of his last 11 games played as a starter, batting .361 (13-for-36) with five doubles, two homers, and six RBIs over that span (1.067 OPS). In 46 career games against Toronto, Mountcastle is hitting .313 (55-for-176) with 10 doubles, 15 homers and 39 RBIs (.996 OPS). His 55 hits, 10 doubles, 15 homers and 39 RBIs against Toronto in his career are his most against a single team.