Doubles are trouble for Reds, but not for Jays’ Ryu
Three things you should know about the Blue Jays’ 2-1 win over the Reds at Rogers Centre on Friday:
Double trouble
Bradley Zimmer hit his first two doubles of the season for the Jays, the first one kick-starting the gamewinning rally in the bottom of the fifth inning. Zimmer hit a rope to left-centre with one out scored on a George Springer single. Springer came in on a Bo Bichette double to left. Two innings later, Zimmer chopped a ground ball over the head of Reds third baseman Colin Moran, playing in because of Zimmer’s speed, and legged out another double.
Doubles? No trouble
Hyun-Jin Ryu picked up his first win of the season Friday, putting up six zeroes despite not throwing a single clean inning.
Ryu gave up one hit in every inning, five of them doubles, but managed to strand every runner. The left-hander got lucky in the top of the sixth, giving up two absolute rockets, but they were both hit at left-fielder Raimel Tapia.
Tommy Pham’s line drive came off the bat at 112.6 miles per hour, Kyle Farmer’s at 102.6.
In between them, Joey Votto had his only hit of the night — a double.
Romano returns
Jays closer Jordan Romano, looking trimmer after missing five days with a gastrointestinal illness and looking baby-faced after getting a haircut and losing the beard, threw a perfect ninth inning to close out the win and register his American League-leading 13th save.
His first pitch was a filthy slider to Mike Moustakas, swung through for a strike. His last was a 96-m.p.h. fastball skied to centre by Tyler Naquin.