Hyun-Jin Ryu had his first quality start in awhile with Will Smith catching him, and he is hoping that it puts to rest any talk of an issue between them.
The Los Angeles Dodgers ace, who had posted a horrific 11.48 ERA in his last three outings with Smith behind the plate, turned it around on Sunday with seven strong innings to Smith in a victory over the Colorado Rockies.
“[The relationship with Smith] was never a problem in the first place,” Ryu said afterwards through his interpreter, per JP Hoornstra of the OC Register. “Coincidentally when he started catching I started struggling, so I’m actually kind of sorry to him because I’m well aware of the talk. Today I think we were on the same page and we did really well as a battery. He called the right pitches, and I tried to execute my pitches. There wasn’t any problem.”
The rookie catcher Smith is expected to be the Dodgers’ everyday catcher in the postseason, so Ryu will have to get comfortable throwing to him sooner or later. It looks like the All-Star lefty shouldn’t have any problems there now though, unlike this fellow National League pitcher.
