LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles’ pitcher Ryu Hyun-Jin threw seven perfect innings yesterday to help set a club record and power the Dodgers to a 4-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
The 27-year-old South Korean left-hander retired the first 21 Reds batters he faced before Todd Frazier doubled down the left-field line to break up the perfect game and no-hit bid.
Ryu improved to 5-2 on the season, throwing 66 of his 95 pitches for strikes. He struck out seven batters without a walk and surrendered three runs over 7 1/3 innings.
Ryu’s winning effort, coming one day after teammate Josh Beckett threw the first no-hitter of the Major League Baseball season, gave the Dodgers’ pitchers 17 hitless innings in a row, shattering the old team record of 12 from 1976.
A third-inning error by Reds first baseman Frazier allowed Dodgers catcher Drew Butera to score from second base to give Los Angeles a 1-0 lead and the scored stayed there until Ryu helped his cause in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Ryu chopped a ground ball to Cincinnati shortstop Zack Cozart, who fumbled the grip and allowed a run to score on the error.
Carl Crawford followed with a two-run double to give the Dodgers a 4-0 lead.
But Ryu saw the perfection bid slip away on Frazier’s hit.
Frazier scored on a Chris Heisey sacrifice fly and Billy Hamilton hit a two-run double off Dodger reliever Brian Wilson to pull the Reds within the final margin.
Heisey reached second base with two outs in the ninth but D Mesoraco flew out to centerfield to end the game.
Meawnhile, the Melky Cabrera drove in three runs with three hits and a sacrifice fly as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Tampa Bay Rays to extend best winning streak to seven games in the ongoing season..
Edwin Encarnacion also had three hits, including his 15th homer of the season, for the Blue Jays (30-22) and was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle.
The first baseman’s homer against right-handed reliever Alex Colome in the sixth was his 13th of the month, a club record for May. AGENCIES
