“(Casey Kelly) will throw up to six innings.”
‘Jamsil Jesus’ Kelly (LG Twins) presented a pitch that exceeded the expectations of head coach Yeom Gyeong-yeop.스포츠토토
Kelly started the home game against the Hanwha Eagles in the 2023 professional baseball KBO league held at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the 19th.
Kelly, who has been wearing an LG uniform since the 2019 season, is a right-handed pitcher who posted an average ERA of 2.89 with 58 wins and 31 losses in 114 KBO league games (697 innings) until last year. His strength is that he can use two types of fastballs, four-seam and cutter, as well as various breaking balls such as curveball, slider, and changeup.
Kelly, who had been somewhat sluggish earlier this year, has recently rebounded perfectly. In particular, in the Daegu Samsung Lions match on the 13th, which was just before the Hanwha match (7-4 LG won), he blocked 7 innings with 3 runs. Until this day, his performance was 3 wins and 2 losses with an average ERA of 4.78 in 8 appearances.
Prior to the game, LG coach Yeom Gyeong-yeop gave Kelly a special order. That is ‘6 inning digestion’. Although LG recently won two games in a row, the bullpen suffered a lot. In response, coach Yeom hoped for his good pitch, saying, “Kelly will block it until 6 innings.”
And Kelly showed good pitching, as if responding to the command tower’s wishes.
The beginning was uneasy. At the beginning of the first inning, Jung Eun-won and Noh Si-hwan were treated with a fly in left field and a fly in center field, respectively, but Chae Eun-seong got a solo gun that went over the left fence and was hit. He then gave Kim In-hwan an infield hit to the second baseman, but led Jin-young Lee to a shortstop grounder and prevented an additional run.
From the beginning of the 2nd inning, it was clean. Park Jung-hyun (2nd baseman grounder), Kwon Kwang-min (3rd baseman grounder), and Park Sang-eon (left fielder fly) were put to sleep one after another, making his first tripartite inning. In the top of the 3rd inning, Moon Hyun-bin (shortstop grounder), Jeong Eun-won (second baseman grounder), and Noh Si-hwan (strikeout) increased the outcount and ended the inning with three batters.
In the beginning of the 4th inning, the crisis management ability was outstanding. After inducing Chae Eun-seong and Kim In-hwan with a strikeout and center fielder fly, respectively, Lee Jin-young (infield hit), Park Jung-hyun (shortstop error), and Kwon Kwang-min (right-hander hit) were allowed to go on base in succession and were driven to the base with 2 outs, but Park Sang-eon struck out and lost a run. Ended the inning without a hit.
The good fight continued in the top of the 5th inning. Leading hitter Moon Hyun-bin was treated as a straight hit by the pitcher. Afterwards, Jung Eun-won hit a double in the right field, but Roh Si-hwan and Chae Eun-seong turned left field fly and strikeout. In the beginning of the 6th inning, after putting Kim In-hwan to sleep with a fly to center field, he dedicated a hit to Lee Jin-young to the left, but Park Jeong-hyun and Kwon Kwang-min were caught with a fly to left field side by side.
Even in the top of the 7th, Kelly, who was on the mound, led Choi Jae-hoon with a fly to right field, and against Moon Hyun-bin, shortstop increased the outcount with a straight hit. Even Jung Eun-won was put to sleep with a fly in left field, completing her mission that day.
His final performance was 7 innings, 6 hits, 1 home run, 4 strikeouts and 1 run. His total pitches were 99, and his best fastball velocity was measured at 150 km.
Kelly showed off a good fight that exceeded the expectations of the command tower. The result was so sweet. With the team leading 3-1, he passed the ball to follow-up pitcher Jung Woo-young, and as LG won without allowing a tie, he won his 4th win (2nd loss) of the season.
