'It's a big pitcher's day.' Why do you replace it with 5 innings and 69 pitches? "Best to win. Minimize lost points"
Aug 22, 2024
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Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on the 21st. Yang Hyun-jong suddenly shook his change-up in the fifth inning. He allowed a series of home runs and gave up four runs in one inning. The KIA Tigers allowed a 3-4 turnaround.
Fortunately, he recovered his 4-4 balance immediately in the bottom of the fifth inning. The number of pitches was only 69. It was the day when he became the No. 1 strikeout champion, surpassing Song Jin-woo (2048). It was worth leaving two more innings. Kia`s bench thought differently. Kwak Do-gyu was added instead of Yang Hyeon-jong.
After the game, Yang Hyun-jong said twice that he wanted to throw about one more inning. But the coach didn't accept it," he said, expressing a slight regret.
KIA's Kwak Do-gyu, who took the mound in the top of the sixth inning, allowed one run, but added one run each in the seventh and eighth innings to win the game 6-5.
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"When I play with Lotte, the game doesn't go well. The finish was good. I could see that the players were motivated to win."
Regarding Yang Hyeon-jong's milestone, "2000 is a record that should be done for 20 years, 150 years, and 15 years." It's really great," he said with his tongue sticking out. Nevertheless, for Yang Hyeon-jong, it is not the last but a progressive (passing point). Players who will strike out more in the future and add more wins accordingly."
Then "If there's anything I can help, I'll help you. It's our job to make sure there's no inconvenience in playing the game."
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Regarding the previous day's game, "The bullpen took a lot of rest, and it was also the timing of the rain. The number of balls was small, but now I thought it was the direction to minimize the number of runs by breaking one inning each"Jong Hyun-jong also considered throwing twice next week."," he added.
lunarfly@sportschosun.com
