KIA Tigers foreign ace James Nail (31) is once again close to his goal of returning to the first starting pitcher of the Korean Series (KS) with a series of good pitching after returning from injury.스포츠토토
In a practice game against the Lotte Giants at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field on the 14th, Nail led KIA to a 5-4 victory by pitching three innings (31 pitches) with one hit, no outs, and four strikeouts.
It was an impeccable pitch, which was more advanced than two innings (31 pitches) and one hit (one home run) and one run with no outs in a practice game with the South Korean military athletic unit (Sangmu) on the 9th.
On the day, Lotte’s opponent team included a large number of key players from the first division in its starting lineup, which was perfect for checking the sense of actual games. Notably, the batting order of Hwang Seong-bin, Yoon Dong-hee, Son Ho-young and Na Seung-yeop remained in the lineup, which had troubled Kia during the regular season this year.
Against Lotte, Nail displayed the best pitching ever. Despite his outfielder error as consistently as he did during the season, he displayed powerful pitching by dispensing two-seam fastballs (11 pitches) with speeds of up to 150 kilometers per hour, mixing cutters (6 pitches), sweeper (10 pitches), and change-up (4 pitches) to secure four strikeouts. He did not lose a point in the crisis with runners on the first and second bases with two outs, and struck out Hwang and Yoon in the third inning in a row.
What was most welcome was that he shook off his fear of hitting the ball to some extent. In the top of the first inning, Son Ho-young broke his bat, which hit the ball, and some of the fragments were headed toward the nail. However, when he recognized the exact location of the fragments, he grabbed the ball that came to him and threw it to the first base to make an out count.
At a practice match with the previous manager, Kia set up a net in front of the pitcher in the first inning to prepare for a physical hit due to concerns over the injury and trauma of the nail. According to an official at Kia, however, Nail asked him to remove the net from the second inning, and pitched three scoreless innings on the day as if it were a real game.
As KIA manager Lee Bum-ho announced, the possibility for Neal to start Game 1 of the Korean Series has increased further. While he is unlikely to play as many as 100 pitches or more, it would be the best scenario for Kia if it only keeps five innings without losing a point as it did during the regular season.
It is a truly miraculous return, considering that he was once diagnosed as likely to be out of the season. It is a truly miraculous return, considering that he was diagnosed as likely to be out of the season when a fastball hit his jaw area about two months ago.
The miracle Nail made was not simply achieved as desired. It was possible thanks to the enthusiasm of the player himself and the efforts of the Kia team. Nail was diagnosed with a broken jaw after being hit in the jaw by Matt Davidson’s training ball in the match against Changwon NC D.C. At the time of his first diagnosis in Changwon, he was told that it would be difficult to return within this season unless surgery was carried out quickly
At that time, Kia did its best to help the nail get a temporomandibular joint fixation on the morning of August 25, the next day. Even though the surgery was successful, it was suggested that the return to the postseason should be observed due to the absence of the regular season. From here on, Nail’s strong will to return to the postseason played a major role.
Nail was discharged from the hospital immediately on September 1, a week after the surgery, and from September 3, she went to work at the stadium and resumed her exercise. He tried not to forget the sense of reality as much as possible by accompanying the away team and encouraging them without taking a break from exercising, and as a result, he drew an answer from head coach Lee Bum-ho, saying, “It is possible to start the Korean Series” ahead of the final regular season match.
Foreign players who performed “Miracle” will now have the final match between Cheongbaek and Lotte to check their sense of actual play. After a practice game with Lotte, Kia immediately began its training camp. After training at Hampyeong-Kia Challengers Field on May 15 and 16, they will enter Gwangju after training on May 18 and June 19 before entering the Korean Series. Attention is focusing on whether they will be able to see nails done on the mound in the first game of the Korean Series.