Once again, the ‘shutout’ was perfect. SSG Landers closer Seo Jin-yong added his 11th save in as many days, solidifying his lead in the saves category.
SSG snapped a five-game losing streak with a 2-1 victory in the 12th game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League against the LG Twins at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on Tuesday.
메이저사이트 The only runs SSG scored on the day came from Park Sung-ho’s solo shot in the fourth inning and third baseman Kang Jin-sung, who came home on Go Woo-seok’s wild pitch with the bases loaded in the eighth inning. In other words, the mound dominated LG.
After cruising through the middle of the game, starting pitcher Roenis Elias pitched a career-high eight innings of four-hit ball (one home run) with no walks and one strikeout before handing the mound over to Seo Jin-yong in the top of the ninth.
With a one-run lead, Seo easily got leadoff hitter Hong Chang-ki to fly out to left field, but allowed the next batter, Shin Min-jae, to steal second after a single to left. Faced with runners in scoring position, Seo got Kim Hyun-soo to ground out to short to end the inning.
However, a wild pitch at second base allowed Shin to advance to third, and the score appeared to be tied at 2-2 when Austin hit a grounder to the third baseman that was ruled safe at first base. The SSG bench immediately requested a video replay, which showed that the third baseman’s accurate throw to the plate reached first base before Austin’s feet, and the call was overturned, ending the game with an out. Seo, who had nearly recorded his first blown save of the season, breathed a sigh of relief.
After the game, Seo said, “The first and second bases were empty anyway, so even if I had a hard time against Austin, I tried to face him as hard as I could because there were a lot of confident batters coming up next. Honestly, Austin has been hitting the best lately, so I was confident. I pitched aggressively with the idea that it was a good hitter-pitcher matchup,” he said. “I think when you have runners on base, it just makes you more determined to get them out as quickly as possible and not give them a chance to score.”
The fact that Shin Min-jae went to third base on a wild pitch in the second inning was not a burden on the ‘forkballer’ Seo Jin-yong. He said, “In a way, the forkball is my most confident pitch after the fastball, so I didn’t think about throwing it very low and in front, and I didn’t care too much because I trusted the course. I think I was just trying to throw it lower and harder,” he said.
“I’m so confident in my forkball that I’ve thrown 24 forkballs out of 25 pitches with good results, and once in a while, I’ll get a good result if the forkball goes into the center when the fastball comes up,” said Seo. “There’s no such thing as always using a forkball as a pitch. Depending on the batter, you can throw it high in the strike zone in favorable counts, so it’s one pitch, but you can use it in different ways,” he said.
As the team’s losing streak grew longer, Seo’s opportunities to pitch dwindled. “When I talked to the coaches and players, they said that I could go out a lot, but when I couldn’t go out, I couldn’t go out so much that they joked that I was suspended,” he laughed. “Anyway, after such a long time, I felt precious again, and I’m grateful when I’m in a save situation, so I’m going to try to get (a save).” he said.