He didn’t allow a home run in his last six games, but the result was a loss and his most unsatisfying pitching performance of the season.
Samsung Lions’ Won Tae-in (23) 메이저사이트 gave up six runs on 13 hits with four walks and four strikeouts over 4⅔ innings in his start against the visiting Doosan Bears in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul.
Won has had three consecutive quality starts (6+ innings pitched, 3 earned runs or less), but this was his worst outing of the season.
“Won Tae-in can pitch, but it’s more disappointing than that because he can hit, but the number of pitches seems to be high in the early innings,” said Park Jin-man, who met with the team at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on the 17th. “While throwing confident pitches, they should be within the range of the hitter, but there is a big difference between a strike and a ball,” he said.
“You have to go in confidently, but when you’re in a favorable count and you’re throwing a lot of pitches outside the strike zone, you’re putting yourself at a disadvantage,” he said, “and that’s something I’ve been struggling with lately. I’d rather be aggressive and get a solo home run than give up a walk and give up a big run.”
It paid off. Out of 102 pitches, he threw 70 strikes. The problem was that the pitches weren’t precisely delivered to the corners. This made them easy prey for the Doosan hitters.
It’s a tough pill to swallow as he’s been on a steady upward trajectory lately. His fastball reached a top speed of 149 kilometers per hour and averaged 146 kilometers per hour, which is better than in previous games this season. In addition to his fastball (38 pitches), he also threw a changeup (25 pitches), cut fastball (19 pitches), and slider (17 pitches).
Nevertheless, Won struggled. No matter the slider, the Doosan batters took advantage. He was able to erase the blood home run nightmare, but it was even worse than that. In the third inning, he gave up four straight hits, three long balls, and five runs.
The Samsung bench didn’t make it any easier. They seemed to want Won to do the minimum as a starter, but after giving up back-to-back hits with one out in the fifth inning, Park Jin-man finally pulled Won and brought up Kim Dae-woo.
Won’s ERA jumped from 4.10 to 4.86 and he was facing his third loss of the season.