What was more important than Ryu Hyun-jin was the team.
Toronto Blue Jays John Schneider’s choice was cool. The message was clearly conveyed that although player morale is important, what is more important is the team. As a result, the team was able to win 3 games in a row after losing 4 games in a row.
Ryu Hyun-jin appeared as a starter in the final game of the three-game home series against the Boston Red Sox held at Rogers Center on the 18th (Korean time). A really important game. Ryu Hyun-jin had to break his two-game losing streak, but the team was trying to win three games in a row. Toronto went to hell after losing all four games against the Texas Rangers during the week, but bounced back by winning two games against Boston. The wild card race is so intense that each game in Toronto is like the finals.
Ryu Hyun-jin pitched well. Just looking at the records. He pitched 4⅔ scoreless innings. The team also had a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 5th inning. However, Coach Schneider replaced Ryu Hyun-jin when there was one out count left to win.
It could have been a very disappointing decision from the player’s perspective. Usually, managers do not send starting pitchers in lead situations. As a starting pitcher, individual victory is the top goal of the game, so he will try to meet the requirements for victory. Especially in the case of ace pitchers, the player’s wishes are respected. Probably, there is no player anywhere on earth who would want to go down with 1 out count remaining until the victory requirement.
However, Coach Schneider did not have time to take care of Ryu Hyun-jin personally. As mentioned above, this is a game that must be won. In a situation with 2 outs and 1st and 2nd bases, if Ryu Hyun-jin was hit by a reverse hit, the flow of the game could have completely shifted to the opponent. That risk factor has been completely blocked.
It was a cruel, but cool-headed decision. This is because on this day, Ryu Hyun-jin was pitching on thin ice, allowing 6 hits and 2 walks before going down. He had a hard time overcoming crisis after crisis, such as his teammates’ surprise defense and a timely double play. From the manager’s perspective, as the number of pitches approached 90, he must have had a strong feeling that he could hit a big hit with Ryu Hyun-jin. After the game, Manager Schneider clearly explained the reason for the replacement, saying, “It is a result of comprehensive consideration of Ryu Hyun-jin’s number of pitches and the content of pitches shown in previous innings.” What is important is that Ryu Hyun-jin also accepted this스포츠토토
. Ryu Hyun-jin said after the game, “The player has to accept it. It’s a situation where he has to trust the coaches’ judgment.” If this decision had been made early in the season or when the battle for team rankings was not that important, it would have hurt his pride as a veteran player, but Ryu Hyun-jin knows better than anyone else that every game is a final now.