NEW YORK (AP) ― Three long balls and a healthy Ryu Hyun-jin made it a gratifying night for the Dodgers.
Adrian Gonzalez homered for the third straight game, Yasiel Puig and Hanley Ramirez hit back-to-back shots and Los Angeles defeated the New York Mets 4-3 on Wednesday.
Ryu (4-2) came off the disabled list and pitched the Dodgers to their 11th victory in 12 meetings with the Mets dating to July 1, 2012. Ramirez drove in two runs and Los Angeles enjoyed most of the vocal support from the 23,721 fans at Citi Field, many of whom turned out to cheer Ryu.
Ryu Hyun-jin of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitches against the New York Mets on Wednesday. (AFP-Yonhap)
“I was faithful to my rehab and what the trainers told me. I felt good. I felt ready, mentally,” Ryu said through a translator. “I’m glad to be back and eager to get the team going in a winning direction.”
The lefty from South Korea, sidelined since late April with shoulder inflammation, went six innings and improved to 4-0 in five starts away from home this season. His return means the Dodgers have all five members of their projected rotation healthy together for the first time all year.
“Like he was never on the DL at all,” catcher A.J. Ellis said. “He was in razor form, and total command of all his pitches.”
Eric Campbell hit his first major league homer for the sputtering Mets, who fell to 5-14 in May with their sixth loss in seven games. David Wright, Juan Lagares and Wilmer Flores each had three of New York’s 13 hits.
Los Angeles managed only five ― but all of them went for extra bases.
“Who needs singles, right?” Ellis said.
Jacob deGrom (0-2) gave up three solo homers over six innings in his second big league start. Pitching in place of injured Dillon Gee, the shaggy-haired righty wasn’t quite as effective as last Thursday, when deGrom went seven innings in a 1-0 loss to the New York Yankees.
Lagares tripled in the ninth and scored as second baseman Dee Gordon made a nice play on Daniel Murphy’s groundout. Kenley Jansen struck out Wright to end it.
Campbell hit a two-run shot in the sixth, when the Mets finally got to Ryu with four hits. Chris Young’s double-play grounder prevented what could have been a much bigger inning.
Ryu had thrown 33 straight shutout innings on the road since Sept. 24, 2013, at San Francisco. “The guy’s a workhorse. When it’s his time to pitch, he prepares himself better than a lot of people that I’ve seen,” Dodgers reliever Brian Wilson said. “He knows what he’s doing.”
Brandon League protected a 3-2 lead in the seventh, retiring Young with runners at second and third to end the inning. Wright’s two-out double squirted a few feet behind a diving Puig in right, but Murphy didn’t appear to be running hard all the way and was held up at third base.
Choo’s homer lifts Rangers ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) ― Nick Tepesch and Robbie Ross helped the Texas Rangers hold off the Seattle Mariners.
Tepesch, back from the minor leagues, earned his first major league victory in more than 10 months and the Rangers edged the Seattle Mariners 4-3 on Wednesday.
Ross, back in the bullpen after an unsuccessful stint in the rotation, bailed Tepesch out of a seventh-inning jam.
Neal Cotts, whose ERA has ballooned from 1.11 in 2013 to 4.34 this season, had a strong eighth.
Texas Rangers’ hitter Choo Shin-soo. (USA TODAY-Yonhap)
Joakim Soria, back in a closer’s role this year for the first time since 2011, pitched a perfect ninth inning for his eighth save in eight opportunities.
The Rangers’ offense had three first-inning runs and Choo Shin-soo’s leadoff home run in the bottom of the fifth that broke a 3-3 tie.
Choo’s fifth homer went into the bullpen in left-center.
“Two strikes, I was in a rough spot. I think about more (getting) on base,” he said.
St. Louis 3, Arizona 2
LA Angels 2, Houston 1
Cleveland 11, Detroit 10
Texas 4, Seattle 3
NY Yankees 4, Chicago Cubs 2
Cincinnati 2, Washington 1
Pittsburgh 9, Baltimore 8
Toronto 6, Boston 4
Milwaukee 6, Atlanta 1
LA Dodgers 4, NY Mets 3
Miami 14, Philadelphia 5
Oakland 3, Tampa Bay 2
Kansas City 3, Chicago White Sox 1
San Francisco 5, Colorado 1
Minnesota 2, San Diego 0