Attack on Titan’ erased one risk.
The biggest concern of the Lotte Giants in April was the ‘foreign duo’. He wasn’t even a freshman. Dan Strayley, who won double-digit victories in 2020 and 2021 and came as an outsider in 2022 and recorded an ERA of 2.31 with 4 wins and 2 losses in 11 games, and Charlie Barnes, who won 12 wins last year.
I thought their performance was guaranteed to some extent, but their April was the worst. There was no pitching for a single quality start (6 or more innings, 3 earned runs or less), and the sense of intimidation as a foreign pitcher disappeared.
Entering May, they found what they expected. The home games against Doosan Bears on the 9th and 10th served as an opportunity to rebound.
Strayley recorded his first quality start of the season when he pitched well against Doosan on the 9th with 2 runs in 6 innings. Barnes showed off his power the next day, the 10th, with 6⅔ scoreless innings against Doosan.
Their change is one thing. Because Jegu came back to life. In the case of Barnes, in particular, he has not been able to press the opponent when the ball does not go in as he wants in a game.
The good fight against Doosan instilled confidence in them. It gave me confidence that the balance was right, and I started to spray the ball more powerfully.
Strayley posted his first win of the season with 6⅓ scoreless innings against the KT Wiz on the 14th. Barnes showed a strong performance against Hanwha on the 16th with 7 innings and 1 run.
Regarding Strayley’s good pitching, Lotte coach Larry Sutton said, “His good pitching against Doosan was the foundation of his confidence. Thanks to that, he showed a good performance on Sunday. (In the game against KT) He showed not only confidence, but also stamina that allowed him to throw more than six innings. Condition Proof that this has come up a lot,” he smiled. Catcher Yoo Kang-nam also looked at him, saying, “The pitch has definitely survived.”
Same goes for Barnes. Yoo Kang-nam said, “If the ball came back stably in the match against Doosan, in the match against Hanwha, he started throwing more powerful balls based on the ball. I could definitely feel that the pitch was getting heavier from the point of view of the receiver.”
As the starting pitcher endured, Lotte began erasing the memory of ‘Bomde’. In the past, even if Lotte did well in April, the pace gradually fell, and it was eliminated from fall baseball, planting the perception that it is ‘strong only in spring’.
This year has been a little different. Against Hanwha on the 16th, in a situation where the batting line only scored one point, Barnes held on and played a tight game, and although there was a run in the 8th inning, he eventually released the bullpen he had saved and was able to summon Noh Jin-hyeok’s final two-run four in the top of the 10th inning.먹튀검증
Noh Jin-hyeok also said, “Foreign starting pitchers are throwing well, so it has a big impact on the cruise in May.”