PITTSBURGH _ The streak ended at 9:34 p.m. local time Saturday, 6:34 p.m. for those on the West Coast, at PNC Park after a rain delay of one hour and 48 minutes and a flawless first inning, on a mistake beyond Hyun-Jin Ryu's control.
Josh Bell's leadoff double in the second inning marked the beginning of the end of Ryu's run of 32 consecutive scoreless innings. Melky Cabrera followed with a swinging bunt that bounced in front of home plate, where Dodgers catcher Russell Martin snatched the ball and chucked it to third base in an attempt to nab Bell. It ended up bouncing into left field. Bell scored and it was over.
It was the first run Ryu allowed since May 1 and the Pittsburgh Pirates added another in the second inning. They threatened to score more, generating traffic on the bases in each Ryu's final four innings, but could not capitalize as the Dodgers ran away with a 7-2 victory powered by a slew of doubles.
Ryu supplied the go-ahead, two-out RBI double in the third inning off Pirates right-hander Joe Musgrove, just missing his first career home run by a few feet. It was one of the Dodgers' eight doubles _ their most since July 2, 1978 and one off the franchise record. Max Muncy registered two. Joc Pederson, Alex Verdugo, Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger, and Chris Taylor recorded the others. Matt Beaty and Martin were the only Dodgers starter without a double.
Ryu gave up a season-high 10 hits and had just three strikeouts, but he didn't walk a batter. His strikeout-to-walk ratio this season stands at 62-to-four. His earned-run average climbed from 1.52 to 1.65.
Julio Urias entered the game for the Dodgers in the seventh inning to pitch for the first time since his arrest on suspicion of domestic battery May 13 and subsequent seven-day administrative leave. The 22-year-old left-hander worked around an infield single and his throwing error in a 20-pitch seventh and ended it by fielding a groundball between his legs. He then retired the side in the eighth with two strikeouts on 10 pitches. Scott Alexander replaced him to pitch the ninth inning and seal the win.
Remarkable command has fueled the 32-year-old Ryu's ascent to top-tier status. The rise didn't begin this season. Ryu was dominant when he was healthy in 2018 _ he missed more than three months with a torn left groin _ and finished the regular season with a 1.97 earned-run average in 15 starts. His ability to put all five of his pitches where he wants to so consistently, pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said, allowed him to extend his dominance to 2019.
"No hitter can sit up there and guess what he's going to give," Honeycutt said. "And his mind's clear with what he wants to do with every guy. He knows which guys are backdoor candidates, which guys are a cutter should be in on. Fastballs down and away, up and away, up and in. I mean, when you can go all quadrants with different pitches, it's going to be a pretty good day."
The command spawned what became the 11th-longest scoreless innings streak since the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958. Ryu hadn't given up a run since the San Francisco Giants mustered one in the first inning on May 1. The left-hander didn't allow a run over his final seven innings that night, tossed a complete-game shutout in his next outing, carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning in the one after that, and logged seven scoreless frames against the Cincinnati Reds last Sunday to emerge with 31 consecutive scoreless frames.
Honeycutt noted Ryu got away with a few mistakes, but not many, in those brilliant starts. He finally didn't Saturday. After a first inning in which he was dominant as ever, retiring the side on seven pitches with two strikeouts, Ryu began the second by falling behind 2-0 on Bell, who has taken the mantle as the hottest hitter in baseball from Bellinger this month. The next pitch wasn't poorly located _ it was a borderline strike down and away _ but Bell stroked the ball the other way for a double anyway.
Two pitches later, after Ryu fell behind again, Cabrera hit a dribbler that went a few feet, prompting Martin's blunder. Cabrera wound up at second base. He moved to third on Francisco Cervelli's single _ the first hit Ryu allowed with a runner in scoring position this season after opponents went 0 for 23 _ and scored on a single from Cole Tucker, the Pirates' No. 8 hitter.
Pittsburgh threatened to score again in the fourth inning. It started with a single and a double, putting runners on second and third with no outs. Pittsburgh proceeded to hit two straight balls in the air to the outfield, but Verdugo and Bellinger tracked them down and the Pirates declined to test their plus arms with a play at the plate. Ryu induced another flyout to Verdugo in center field to escape.
Outfield defense rescued Ryu again in the sixth inning. Bryan Reynolds, who smacked a leadoff single, was at third base with two outs when Jake Elmore cracked a line drive to the wall in right field. Bellinger retreated and leaped at the wall, in front of the electronic out-of-town scoreboard, to make the catch and extinguish the peril.
