River Ryan gets a standing ovation in his major league debut as Dodgers edge Giants
River Ryan handed the ball to manager Dave Roberts in the top of the sixth inning Monday night, and as he headed toward the third base dugout, a crowd 49,576 at Dodger Stadium rose to applaud the 25-year-old right-hander, who glanced at the upper deck and tapped his chest in appreciation of the standing ovation.
No matter what happened after he departed with the score tied and runners on first and third and one out, it was clear by the crowd’s reaction and the high-fives and handshakes Ryan received in the dugout that his major league debut was a success.
The Dodgers then put a nice bow-and-ribbon on the evening for Ryan when Teoscar Hernández drove in his third run of the game with a two-out single to center field to lift the Dodgers to a 3-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
With the score tied 2-2, Kiké Hernández opened the bottom of the eighth with a fly ball to the gap that fell on the warning track between center fielder Heliot Ramos and left fielder Luis Matos for a double.
A 35-year-old left-hander who signed a one-year contract with the Dodgers, James Paxton had given the team’s short-handed rotation key innings over the first half of the year.
Giants left-hander Erik Miller struck out Shohei Ohtani, but Will Smith walked. San Francisco shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald made a nice diving stop of Freddie Freeman’s grounder up the middle and shoveled a flip with his glove hand to second for a force out.
Giants manager Bob Melvin summoned right-hander Randy Rodriguez to face Teoscar Hernández, who lined a 2-and-2 fastball to center to score Kiké Hernández for a 3-2 lead, giving the outfielder 67 RBIs on the season.
Daniel Hudson then struck out two of four batters in a scoreless ninth for his seventh save, as the Dodgers extended their win streak to four games.
Ryan gave up one unearned run and four hits in 5 ⅓ innings, striking out two and walking three for a no-decision, the longest start by a Dodgers pitcher since Tyler Glasnow went six innings on July 5.
The Huntersville, N.C., native had never pitched into the sixth in any of his 45 minor league starts over three seasons, but he faced three batters in the sixth inning Monday night before he was pulled.
Ryan, the organization’s fourth-ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline, was drafted by the San Diego Padres as a two-way player in the 11th round of 2021 and traded to the Dodgers for utility man Matt Beaty in the spring of 2022.
Once he gave up shortstop to focus on pitching in 2022, he shot through the Dodgers’ farm system on the strength of a five-pitch mix headed by a lively fastball that sits between 95-97 mph and touches 99 mph.
The former UNC-Pembroke star had a 2.76 ERA in five starts for triple-A Oklahoma City, and though his stay with the Dodgers probably will be brief with Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw coming off the injured list this week, his debut was still highly anticipated.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts still wants to use closer Evan Phillips in “leverage” situations, but those scenarios could come earlier in games.
“It’s big stuff,” Roberts said before the game. “It’s a high-velocity fastball, a curveball, a slider, there’s a changeup in there … he’s a very confident young man. He’s going to attack guys. There’s going to be some adrenaline, so I’m expecting him to manage those emotions once the game gets going.”
Ryan looked a little wobbly to start, walking Jorge Soler to open the game and giving up a single to LaMonte Wade Jr., but he caught a break when Miguel Vargas bobbled Wade’s hit and threw out Soler attempting to advance to third on the miscue.
Ramos followed with a drive to the gap in left-center that Vargas, a converted infielder, took a terrible route on before darting in to make a lunging, shoe-string catch for the second out.
Ryan got Patrick Bailey to pop out to shortstop and retired the side in order in the second and third innings before running into trouble in the fourth, an inning that began with Wade’s walk and a Ramos lineout to right field.
Bailey singled to center, and the runners advanced on Michael Conforto’s groundout to first. Matt Chapman walked on a full-count fastball that caromed off catcher Smith’s glove for a passed ball that allowed Wade to score for a 1-0 Giants lead. Ryan struck out Mike Yastrzemski with a 95-mph cut-fastball to end the inning.
Teoscar Hernández golfed a down-and-in slider from Giants left-hander Blake Snell 411 feet into the left-field seats for his 21st home run, a solo shot that tied the score 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth.
Ryan threw a one-two-three fifth but ran into trouble again in the sixth when Wade led off with a single and was wiped out on Ramos’ fielder’s-choice grounder. Bailey roped a single off the right-field wall to advance Bailey to third.
Roberts summoned left-hander Alex Vesia, who struck out Matos with a 91-mph fastball and Chapman with a 93-mph fastball to escape the first-and-third, one-out jam to preserve a 1-1 tie and assure that Ryan wasn’t tagged with a loss.
The Dodgers took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth when Freeman walked with two outs, took second on Snell’s wild pitch and scored when Teoscar Hernández lined a single to center.
But San Francisco tied it 2-2 on Fitzgerald’s solo homer to left-center field off left-hander Ryan Yarbrough in the top of the seventh.
Short hops
Roberts said Miguel Rojas, who was pulled from Sunday’s game in the fourth inning because of right forearm tightness, an injury that stems from the shortstop taking one-handed swings with a weighted bat over the All-Star break, is expected to return to the lineup Wednesday night. … Bobby Miller, who gave up three hits, struck out four and walked four over five scoreless innings for Oklahoma City on Saturday, will make at least one more triple-A start before being considered for a return to the Dodgers’ rotation. … Reliever Ryan Brasier (right-calf strain) will throw to hitters in Dodger Stadium again Tuesday, and the right-hander is scheduled to begin a rehabilitation stint with Oklahoma City on Saturday.
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