Definition:

A ‘Maddux’ describes a start in which a pitcher tosses a complete-game shutout on fewer than 100 pitches. Named after Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, the term was coined by baseball writer Jason Lukehart. Since 1988, the first year accurate pitch-count data became available, Maddux ranks first in the Majors with 13 such starts during the regular season. Nobody else has thrown more than seven. (Source: MLB.com)

On Tuesday evening, May 7, 2019, in front of a Dodger Stadium crowd of 47,337 with millions more watching on television and on-line, 32-year-old Incheon, South Korea native Hyun-Jin Ryu threw a Maddux. And even though we will never know for sure how many actual Maddux(s) have been thrown in the 150-year history of Major League Baseball, what we do know is that Ryu joins some very elite company.

With his 93-pitch complete game shutout (of which 67 were strikes), Ryu became the first Dodgers pitcher to throw a Maddux since left-hander and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw did so on April 1, 2013 on Opening Day on 94 pitches. Former Dodgers right-hander Hiroki Kuroda also threw one on July 7, 2008 on 91 pitches. Prior to that, former Dodgers left-hander Odalis Pérez did it twice in 2002, the first on April 26 on 91 pitches and the second on June 25 on (wait for it…) 87 pitches.

“It was good to watch Hyun-Jin do his thing,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who never so much as called down to the bullpen even once. “Complete domination tonight. His feel, to strike the breaking ball, has always been elite. It’s hard to say he’s under the radar, but he’s an elite pitcher in baseball. It makes it fun to sit back and watch. I think the only time he broke a sweat was when he was covering first base [on a very close defensive play].

“He’s been so good, so many different times, but tonight he reached back for 92 [mph] when he needed it and he could have kept going,” Roberts added.

Elite company indeed.

“I want to be a pitcher my teammates can depend on me every five days, and I will put more effort in so I can start every five days,” Ryu told reporters after the game.

As Dodger fans know, the extremely popular rock-star-like 6′-3″ / 255-pound left-hander missed nearly two full seasons while recovering from left shoulder surgery on May 21, 2015. However, since then, Ryu went on to pitch seven scoreless innings against the Braves in Game-1 of last year’s National League Division Series, during which he struck out four in a 6-0 win. Since signing with the Dodgers on December 9, 2012, Ryu had pitched two previous complete games in his six seasons in the MLB, one a shutout during his rookie season on May 28, but needing 113 pitches to do so.

Although pitching a complete game shutout certainly does not rise to the level of pitching a no-hitter (which, ironically, Oakland A’s right-hander Mike Fiers did also on Tuesday night), complete games in and of themselves are on the verge of extinction. As most baseball fans know, pitch-count-driven analytics and lefty-righty pitching match-ups have made even going three times through the opposing team’s line-up a thing of the past.

In fact, in Fiers’ case, A’s manager Bob Melvin told reporters after the 33-year-old Hollywood, Florida native’s second career no-hitter (and the 300th in MLB history) that had his nine-year MLB veteran allowed a baserunner in the top of the ninth inning, he would have pulled him, no-hitter be damned. Fiers’ final pitch of the game – a swinging strike three on a full count to Cincinnati Reds third baseman Eugenio Suárez – was his 131st pitch of the night.

But Ryu’s remarkable feat wasn’t the only one on Tuesday night in the Dodgers lopsided 9-0 win over the always-dangerous National League East second place Atlanta Braves. Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner, who admittedly got of to a very slow start to the 2019 season, hit not one, not two, but three home runs on Tuesday, accounting for six of the Dodgers nine runs.

“Just got some pitches over the plate and put good swings and didn’t miss them … finally,” Turner kidded, after going 29 games into the season and being the only Dodgers position player without a home run until he finally hit one against the San Francisco Giants on April 30. “Been feeling good at the plate, just not getting good results, and tonight I got good results.

“I have felt better the last couple weeks, hitting balls hard and tonight got three up in the air,” Turner added. “The timing’s felt good. Been missing a lot of good pitches to hit. Finding the barrel a lot more frequently lately.”

It was the first time in the 34-year-old Long Beach California native’s 11-year MLB career that he has gone deep three times in a game.

The Dodgers will go for a three-game sweep of the Braves on Wednesday night when they send the aforementioned Clayton Kershaw (1-0 / 2.77 ERA) to the mound opposite Braves right-hander Mike Foltynewicz (0-1 / 5.06 EA). Worthy of note, Kershaw has 25 complete games over his 12-year MLB career, which includes 15 shutouts. Will he make it 26 and 16?

Stay tuned…

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