LOS ANGELES_Just past 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, Hyun-Jin Ryu rose from his seat inside the Los Angeles Dodgers' bullpen and climbed atop a mound. A pitcher warming up should not sound an alarm. But these are strange times for the pitching staff of the Dodgers.
Earlier in the afternoon, hours before a 7-3 victory over St. Louis, manager Dave Roberts outlined Ryu's isolation on the roster. Squeezed out of the rotation, Ryu had yet to transition into a role in the bullpen. Roberts could not say when Ryu would pitch again. Yet as Thursday's fourth inning unfolded, an opening appeared.
Trailing by two runs, the Dodgers staged a rally against St. Louis starter Michael Wacha. Runners manned the corners with two out. Yasiel Puig stood at the plate. Logan Forsythe loosened up in the on-deck circle, looming as a pinch-hitter for pitcher Kenta Maeda. The baton seemed set to pass from Maeda the starter to Ryu the reliever.
The transfer would have to wait. Puig stroked an RBI single. Forsythe returned to the dugout. Maeda climbed the steps, carrying his bat and a .071 batting average to the plate. He fouled off a fastball. He fouled off another. He chipped a changeup foul, then a curveball. At last, on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Wacha left a curveball over the middle. Maeda sent a dribbler down the third-base line, fair enough and placed well enough to drive home two runs.
Maeda was thrown out at second base, but the gambit by Roberts worked. The offense staged another flurry in the fifth, piling on two more runs and knocking Wacha out of the game. Along the way, Ryu returned to the bullpen mound. When the inning ended, the door opened, and he emerged for the first relief appearance of his career.
The duo of Maeda and Ryu may appear an unlikely tag team, but they pacified the Cardinals on Thursday. After Maeda recovered from a first-inning stumble to blank the Cardinals for the next four innings, Ryu spun four scoreless innings behind him. The pair helped the Dodgers (28-20) take two of three from St. Louis. The team has won six of eight heading into this weekend's showdown with the Cubs.
The return of Maeda pushed the club into an awkward position with Ryu. Roberts described the situation as "very delicate," given Ryu's contractual leverage and his injury history. As the team shifts to a more traditional five-man rotation, Ryu occupies the sixth position in the hierarchy. The team wants to use him as a reliever. Ryu prefers notice for his outings so he can maintain his workout schedule. It is difficult to script in advance.
Ryu can refuse any minor league assignment. The team has not asked him to consider accepting a demotion to stay fresh as a starter, Roberts said. A trade would reduce the team's stockpile of arms. And Roberts indicated Ryu still "serves a really meaningful purpose on our club." Perhaps Thursday offered a harbinger of their plans.
Maeda required time to find a groove. He had not pitched since May 10. The team gave him two weeks to rest a minor hamstring issue. St. Louis bullied him in the first inning. Cardinals outfielders Dexter Fowler and Tommy Pham opened the frame with a single and a walk. Maeda hung a curveball two batters later, and third baseman Jedd Gyorko smashed a two-run double.
A wild pitch sent Gyorko to third base. He scored on a single by catcher Yadier Molina. Molina's lack of speed saved Maeda. Molina could only reach third on a double by shortstop Aledmys Diaz. And when Maeda lost another pitch in the dirt, Molina got tagged out trying to score from third.
A three-run deficit should not be considered insurmountable. But the Dodgers had managed only three runs in the first two games of this series, and required 13 innings to score twice on Tuesday. After being silenced by Cardinals starters Lance Lynn and Mike Leake, on Thursday they faced Wacha, another imposing right-handed pitcher.
The Dodgers dented Wacha in the second inning. Chase Utley collected his first home run of the season. He turned on a changeup and sent it over the right-field fence.
Wacha started to wobble in the fourth. The Dodgers stressed him with singles by Cody Bellinger and Enrique Hernandez. Puig managed to thread a cutter through the right side of the infield to bring home a run. The hit led to Roberts' sticking with Maeda for his crucial at-bat.
In the fifth, Wacha gave up a leadoff single to Chris Taylor and then walked Corey Seager. Into the fray came left-handed reliever Brett Cecil. He chucked a pair of wild pitches, which brought home Taylor. Seager scored on a double by Adrian Gonzalez. Taylor added an RBI double in the sixth.
Ryu gobbled up the last 12 outs. His manager indicated before the game that he still believed Ryu could shut down opposing lineups. For four innings on Thursday, in a role he had never before assumed, Ryu proved Roberts right.
