Ryu remains 'starter at heart' after sparkling relief debut

Hyun-Jin Ryu dazzled Thursday night in the first relief appearance of his MLB career, allowing only three baserunners over four shutout innings en route to an unlikely save in the Los Angeles Dodgers' 7-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

He'd prefer not to do it again.

"I'm a starter at heart," Ryu told MLB.com's Ken Gurnick. "I believe I will get another opportunity as a starter, and at one point that was part of the conversation. Today was just a one-time appearance, so I can't really say I'm good in this role or bad in this role. After today, we'll have to see."

Reluctantly bumped to the bullpen to make room in the rotation for Kenta Maeda, Ryu - who owns a 4.75 ERA in seven starts this season - is confident he'll get another chance to start, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn't exactly dismiss the possibility of keeping the 30-year-old left-hander in a relief role, at least for a little while, following Thursday's impressive debut.

"It worked tonight, and I'd like to think the more he does it, the more he can kind of get comfortable with the role," Roberts said. "Again, this is not something that we plan on being permanent. It's just to make sure we build his pitch count up and get him consistent innings and tonight it was a win for all of us."

Though Ryu, who missed all of 2015 and was limited to one start last year due to persistent arm problems, wasn't thrilled about the impromptu gig, he did concede that a strong relief outing would give him a decent chance to return to a rotation currently comprised of Clayton Kershaw, Alex Wood, Brandon McCarthy, Rich Hill, and Maeda.

"My initial reaction was I don't understand where the front office is coming from," Ryu said. "My record as a starter (2-5) wasn't as good as I wanted. For that reason, I felt if come out of the bullpen with a good performance, I'll probably get another shot at starting."