Ryu K's 15 in 1-hitter

Hyun-Jin Ryu, the league's ERA leader for most of the season, struck out 15 in a one-hitter at Hillsborough, 3-0, on Aug. 8, setting a new single-game season high.

The crafty left-hander from South Korea is about the least-heralded starter in a Livingston rotation that includes Jacob deGrom, Gerrit Cole, Noah Syndergaard and Zack Wheeler but has been the best of the bunch in 2019.

Ryu's 15 strikeouts are a new season-high, besting the previous high of 14, shared by Vancouver's James Paxton, Justin Verlander of Hillsborough and El Paso's Nick Pivetta. The 32-year-old also set a new GameScore high for the season, of 99, eclipsing the 96 by Tyler Glasnow in his no-hitter a week earlier.

The only thing that kept Ryu from having the league's third no-hitter this season was a two-out single in the 5th by Trey Mancini. A one-out walk to Joey Gallo in the 2nd was the only other base runner for the Hit Men. The 32-year-old threw just 105 pitches, an astounding 75 for strikes (.714), to improve to 10-4 with a 2.38 ERA, which still leads the league.

Ryu (10-5) got all the offense he needed from Matt Chapman, who doubled after Shin-Shoo Choo walked for a 1-0 lead. Chapman later homered off Raisel Iglesias to finished the scoring. The Lords of Swing also added a run in the 5th. No. 9 hitter Omar Narvaez walked, and after Jose Berrios retired two batters, Adam Frazier and Paul Goldschmidt delivered singles to load the bases. Hillsborough went to the pen, only to see Arodys Vizcaino throw a wild pitch, allowing Narvaez to score for a 2-0 margin.

Iglesias, Hillsborough's six pitcher, surrendered a solo homer to Chapman, extending the lead to 3-0, before exiting in favor of Zach Eflin, who finished up.