A smile spread across the face of professional baseball kt manager Lee Kang-cheol. After returning, he expressed satisfaction with the performance of foreign pitcher Cuevas, who is leading the team’s upward trend.
Cuevas started on the 15th at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul in the first game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League against Doosan and three consecutive matches during the week. He pitched 7 scoreless innings and led the team to a 1-0 victory and 3 consecutive wins.
During the game, he even showed a moment of shaking. He seemed conscious of going head-to-head with opposing starter Raul Alcantara, who was active in the KBO League together in 2019. At that time, Cuevas was 13-10 with an ERA of 3.62, and Alcantara played the role of the ace of each team with an ERA of 11-11 and 4.01.
In the bottom of the 5th inning, with 1 out and 1st base, Park Joon-young, coach Lee visited the mound and calmed down Cuevas. Afterwards, Cuevas, who regained a sense of stability, contributed to the team’s victory by blocking without a run until the 7th inning.
The second game of the three-game series against Doosan will be held at the same place on the 16th. Regarding the situation before the game, Lee said, “It suddenly changed as if he was aware of the competition with Alcantara.”
After coach Lee stepped onto the mound, Cuevas continued his scoreless march by throwing breaking pitches such as sliders.
After opening a new nest at kt in 2019, Cuevas kept the mound until the beginning of the 2022 season. He pitched in 82 games over his 4 career seasons and went 33-32 with an earned run average of 3.89.
In particular, in the KBO league in the 2021 season, he started the tiebreak held in 35 years and won against Samsung. He played the role of an ace in the Doosan and Korean series, leading kt to its first combined victory.
In the 2022 season, he suffered an injury from the first month of the opening and left the team with only two appearances. Afterwards, he transferred to the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers under the Los Angeles Dodgers. He played 11 games (9 starts) in the minor leagues this season, recording 2 wins, 2 losses, and an ERA of 6.14.
Cuevas returned to kt again last June. He was selected as a substitute for Bo Shul Seo, who joined kt as a new foreign player this season. Schulser left Korea with a sluggish record this season with an average ERA of 5.62, 1 win and 7 losses in 9 games.
Returning to Korea after about 14 months, Cuevas’ performance was dazzling. He is flying with a 3.13 ERA in 10 games, 6 wins and no losses. At the time, kt, which was in 8th place, showed an unstoppable rise, rising to 3rd place in two months.토토사이트
kt is on a winning streak after Cuevas returns. In response, coach Lee applauded, saying, “The recruitment effect of Cuevas is coming out. After joining, the team has improved greatly.”
He added, “After Cuevas joined, (bullpen pitchers) Park Young-hyeon and Kim Jae-yoon could comfortably climb the mound.”
Having won 3 consecutive victories, kt is now looking for second place. SSG, which lost 6 to 10 to Lotte the previous day, is closely chasing SSG by two games. Coach Lee, who said, “I’m always greedy for the second place,” raised his voice, saying, “Recently, the players have been doing so well. I have to win a lot at times like this.”
On this day, kt will challenge Doosan for a 4-game winning streak. It remains to be seen whether starting right-handed pitcher Eom Sang-baek will lead kt’s upward trend.