Blue Jays prevail after Ryu's no-hit outing cut short by liner off knee

CLEVELAND -- Hyun Jin Ryu may have dodged a serious injury, but the Blue Jays are still holding their breath while he undergoes X-rays after taking a batted ball off the right knee in Monday’s 3-1 win over the Guardians.

The timing is cruel for Ryu, who was making just his second start back with the Blue Jays after a recovery from Tommy John surgery that took him 13-plus months. Ryu nailed every step of that comeback to return for the stretch run at age 36, but he is already faced with another challenge as he tries to contribute to a postseason run.

“We joke about his big calves,” said manager John Schneider, “and he’s got two calves on the right leg right now. He was moving around better as he got in here, though, and he was dealing before that. He was spot on. He was what we saw a few years ago. He was painting, pitch after pitch.”

Through those first four innings at Progressive Field, the Blue Jays got the exact version of Ryu they’ve waited more than a year to see. His velocity was still below where it needs to be, his fastball averaging just 88.8 mph, but his locations were precise and Ryu’s changeup -- the most important pitch in all of this -- was missing bats again.

That’s how Ryu beats you. Not with power or a devastating breaking ball, but by being one step ahead of the hitter and refusing to make the first mistake.

Cavan Biggio put it best -- even when Ryu was missing, he was missing where he wanted to miss. That’s what full control looks like.

Toronto’s excellent bullpen carried Ryu’s momentum the rest of the way in the win, but it was Biggio who played the role of unexpected star.

Biggio launched a two-run home run to break a scoreless tie in the eighth inning, a soaring shot to right-center that left Biggio’s swing in a beautiful high finish. Then, with the Guardians pressing in the bottom half, it was Biggio who turned an unassisted double play to end the inning, tagging a hesitant baserunner before racing to first to get the batter.

As Biggio blew through first base and toward the Blue Jays’ dugout, he stopped and howled in celebration with his teammates. For a player who has spent much of this season fighting uphill to find consistency amid inconsistent playing time, this was the best 15 minutes of baseball he’s had in ages.

“Cavan was the highlight of the game today, offensively and defensively,” Schneider said. “That’s such a heady play, knowing the runner at first in [Bo] Naylor, and that’s a really good runner in [Steven] Kwan. That’s probably the last possible outcome we thought of, that play, but it’s just Cav being a baseball player and knowing the situation, understanding who was where and making the proper adjustments. Just an awesome night from him.”

That performance and a fourth consecutive win brought life back into this team on the field, but following the game, the focus was back on Ryu, the beloved left-hander who has the respect of every player in that clubhouse.

“I was just hoping that he didn’t fracture or break anything because that really hurts,” Biggio said. “I know [Alek] Manoah took one off the knee earlier this year and he battled through it. You never know. Getting hit by a pitch, even when it’s 75 mph in the batter’s box, it really hurts. I don’t know how hard he hit it, but it looked pretty hard.”

The play capped four no-hit innings for Ryu, who is currently part of a six-man rotation with Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt, Manoah and Yusei Kikuchi, which the Blue Jays are using strategically in the short term. Keeping with the same cycle, Ryu’s next outing lines up on Sunday, the finale against the Cubs at home, which obviously seems unlikely, pending an update on the X-rays on Tuesday. That’s also the game that ends a stretch of 17 games in 17 days for the Blue Jays.

That’s one of the primary reasons the Blue Jays were comfortable shifting to a six-man rotation, but with off-days coming next Monday and Thursday at home, everyone gets to take a long, deep breath. Toronto’s rotation and bullpen will welcome that with open arms.

This means that the Blue Jays are set up well to absorb an injury in the short term, but it’s difficult to stretch for a silver lining with Ryu on the X-ray table, even after such an impressive win.