'Kelly, her colleagues, her fans, the sky wept' I've been waiting for an hour and 40 minutes. No Game Declaration
Jul 20, 2024
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The LG Twins were declared a rain-free game after the game was suspended in the top of the third inning with a 6-0 lead over the Doosan Bears at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on the 20th. The game will be reorganized later.
But it was Casey Kelly's farewell appearance, so I couldn't just finish it easily. LG recently decided to recruit a new foreign pitcher. The replacement was Kelly. He is a long-term foreign pitcher who has played for six seasons at LG since 2019. However, he has been evaluated as having poor pitching capacity, and his performance has also led to his performance, and he could not avoid being replaced.
When the contract with a new foreign pitcher reached an agreement, LG notified Kelly of the breakup during the game on the 19th. He explained why and the situation in which the club had no choice but to make a decision, and Kelly accepted it.
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Kelly says, `I'll discuss it with my family"After discussion, I will throw it to the final game as scheduled." expressed his intention. LG announced Kelly as the starting pitcher as scheduled.
However, Kelly made one request to the club. "Please don't make an official announcement until you make your debut as much as possible" and the club also tried to be as respectful as possible to Kelly, who has been with him for six seasons.
In a meeting with reporters ahead of the match against Doosan on the 20th, manager Yeom Kyung-yeop said, "The decision was made yesterday. I tried not to take Kelly's mound, but after thinking about it, Kelly is a player who has played on our team for more than five years. I was thinking about how to be good at the end for Kelly and discussed with the front desk. It was concluded that it would be best to let him throw if he had an idea. I explained to Kelly in advance that the situation was like this, and I told her that I was trying to make time to say hello to the fans."
Kelly prepared to take the mound with a bright face. From the time he moved to the outfield to warm up, fans who heard the news of his separation from him shouted his name with a jersey with Kelly's name on it, and he also gave fans a bright smile and greetings.
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Kelly calmly pitched well. In the top of the first inning, he caught leadoff hitter Jung Soo-bin with a fly to center field, struck out Cho with a swing and miss, and then caught Kang Seung-ho with a fly to second base.
In the second inning, he gave up a walk to leadoff hitter Kim Jae-hwan, but he handled Yang Seok-hwan with a fly to left field, then allowed Park Joon-young to hit a single, and ended the inning by inducing a double play at Kim Ki-yeon's at-bat.
LG hitters, who have made a lot of memories with Kelly for more than five seasons, have been concentrating on offense from the first inning. LG, who scored three runs with two home runs in the first inning alone, including Austin Dean's two-run home run and Moon Bo-kyung's solo home run, led 6-0 in the second inning with a concentrated hit.
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However, the game was suspended due to a sudden downpour. The game, which stopped during the top of the third inning, waited for nearly an hour, and as the rain cloud passed, the referee proceeded to continue the game. The ground maintenance has begun.
Kelly was seen briefly warming up behind the dugout as there was a possibility of continuing the game. As it was the last game, it was read as a willingness to continue pitching until the end with all his might. And after pitching in the bullpen, he prepared to resume pitching. An LG club official said that `Kelly has strongly expressed his desire to finish by the inning.'
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Eventually, at 8:28 p.m., the judges came out again to check the ground condition, and a no-game was declared at 8:29 p.m. For LG, all records that led 6-0 disappeared in the rain, and Kelly's record of playing in the farewell game also disappeared.
LG players bowed to their fans and announced the end of the game. Kelly hugged Austin, Ence and other teammates and bowed to the crowd on the first and third bases. LG players also lined up in front of the dugout and applauded Kelly with sincerity. The crowd chanted Kelly's name at the top of their lungs.
After hugging Kelly, catcher Park Dong-won was also seen wiping away tears, and Doosan players, the opposing team, also came out one by one and shook hands and hugged Kelly to say goodbye. Kelly was also in hot tears in the rain.
youll@sportschosun.com
