“I wanted to throw without regret against a strong team, and for some reason, I felt like I would regret it more if I couldn’t throw today”.
Lee Ho-seong, a second-year right-hander for the Samsung Lions of the Korean Baseball Organization, picked up his second win of the season.
Lee started the home game against the LG Twins at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on March 13 and pitched well, allowing two runs on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 5⅓ innings. Of his 81 total pitches, 47 were strikes. His fastball reached up to 146 mph and he utilized his arsenal of curveball, slider, and changeup effectively.
Before the game, manager Park Jin-man said, “The best case scenario would be if Lee Ho-sung pitches well and goes five innings,” and that’s exactly what happened.
After giving up a leadoff single to Hong Chang-ki in the first inning, Lee retired Moon Sung-ju and Kim Hyun-soo on a fly ball to left field and a swinging strikeout, respectively, and induced Austin Dean to ground out to short to end the inning.
Lee struck out Moon Bo-kyung and Park Dong-won in the second inning and got Koo Bon-hyeok to fly out to center field. In the third inning, Lee induced leadoff hitter Park Hae-min to ground out to second base, then walked Shin Min-jae on a full count. Hong Chang-ki and Moon Sung-joo followed with infield grounders.
In the fourth, Kim Hyun-soo singled to right and Austin doubled to left-center to put runners at second and third with no outs. Moon Bo-kyung hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score a run. Park Dong-won followed with a sacrifice fly to center field to score another run. Lee retired Koo Bon-hyeok on a fly ball to center field.
After striking out Park Hae-min, Shin Min-jae, and Hong Chang-gi in the fifth to complete a three-hit shutout inning, Lee handed the mound to Kim Dae-woo 토토사이트 with the bases loaded and the game-winning run on first in the sixth.
Samsung, meanwhile, defeated LG 6-3 to extend its winning streak to four games since April 9 against Gochuk Kiwoom. It was Lee’s first win in 44 days, since he beat Doosan in Jamsil on March 1.
“I tried to pitch aggressively and not just give up walks even if I got hits,” Lee said after the game. “With a good lead from (Kang) Min-ho and defense help from the fielders, I think I pitched without regrets.” He added, “There’s definitely a difference between starting and going to the bullpen. Today, I didn’t think about it and just tried to keep it simple and throw like I was practicing,” he added.
“Before the sixth inning, Coach Jung Min-tae told me not to think about the end of the game and to throw every pitch as if it was the last one,” Lee said with a smile. “It’s a shame that I couldn’t finish the inning, but I think I did my job as a starting pitcher,” he added.
LG starter Casey Kelly took the loss, but went eight innings. “When I came off the mound, I was surprised at the number of pitches he threw. He gave up more runs than I did, but he went a long inning. I thought it was important for a starting pitcher to go the distance,” Lee said.