LG Twins Lee Ji-kang has finally blossomed.
Ji-kang Lee took the mound in the away game against the KIA Tigers in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League held at Gwangju-KIA Champions Field on the 19th and recorded 4 hits, 1 strikeout, and no runs in 5 innings, leading the team to a 4-3 victory, and his first individual debut. There was also a victory.
Lee Ji-gang’s pitching that day was close to perfect. Of the 72 pitches,바카라사이트 the strike rate was 45, including 27 balls and 43 fastballs, reaching a maximum speed of 145 km/h. In addition, he used changeups (19 pitches), sliders (6 pitches), and curveballs (4 pitches).
Lee Ji-gang allowed consecutive hits to Na Seong-beom and Choi Hyeong-woo with two outs in the bottom of the first inning, facing a crisis with two outs and bases on first and second. However, he escaped the crisis by grounding Kim Sun-bin in the follow-up.
The second episode was handled with a clean three-way ban. Then, in the bottom of the 3rd inning with 2 outs, Kim Do-young walked and Na Seong-beom gave up a right-handed hit, putting them in danger of giving up runs on 1st and 3rd bases with 2 outs. But Lee Ji-gang did not waver. He continued his scoreless pitching by catching slugger Choi Hyeong-woo with a fly ball to right field.
In the 4th inning, he went one step further toward victory by handling a three-way strike. With two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Choi Won-jun hit to right, but this time, he set up Kim Do-young with a fly ball to right field, fulfilling the winning pitcher requirement.
Afterwards, thanks to Moon Bo-kyung’s consecutive home runs and closer Ko Woo-seok’s pitching on the mound starting in the 8th inning, it was Lee Ji-kang who finally completed the puzzle of his first win.
Lee Ji-kang, who entered the professional ranks after being called by LG in the 9th round of the 2nd rookie draft in 2019, has appeared on the first team stage in earnest since last year after resolving his military service issue.
However, he has not been able to post a win in every starting game he has pitched since his debut, showing that he is somewhat distant from the title of ‘winning pitcher’.
In particular, even though he pitched more than 5 innings after starting the pitch, his luck did not follow him. In the previous starting game, against Samsung on the 4th of last month, he showed decent pitching, allowing 2 runs in 5.2 innings, but failed to post a win.
And on this day, Lee Ji-gang, who once again took the opportunity to replace Adam Plutko, who left due to a pelvic bone bruise, produced valuable results based on perfect ball control in his 10th career start. Lee Ji-gang’s ’10 Battles, 11 Periods’ was a success.
Lee Ji-gang has appeared in 18 games this season (9 starts) and has 1 win, 3 losses, 1 hold, and an ERA of 3.59.
Meanwhile, LG’s victory this day extended the team’s 5th consecutive win, maintaining a 6.5 game gap with 2nd place KT. Also, LG will move to Suwon on the 20th to face KT Wiz. LG will start with Kim Yun-sik, and KT will start with Ha Jun-ho.