James Nail (31, KIA Tigers), a foreign pitcher who overcame a facial injury, laughed and cried at the “sweeper.”
In the first game of the Korean Series against the Samsung Lions held at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field on Sunday, Nail started the game and allowed four hits (one homer) with six strikeouts and one run during five innings. She pitched 76 pitches (50 strikes). She pitched without allowing a single run until the fifth inning, but allowed a solo home run to leadoff hitter Kim Hun-gon in the sixth inning was the fly in the ointment. She replaced Jang with no outs in the sixth inning, and the game was suspended due to rain at the first and second bases with no outs, and a suspended game was declared. Depending on the situation that continued at 4 p.m. on the 22nd, additional runs may be allowed.
For Nail, the match was her return from injury. She suffered an unexpected injury when she was hit in the face by a physical hit against the Changwon NC Dinos on Aug. 24. Since taking the operating table the next day due to a broken jaw, she has devoted herself to rehabilitation treatment. Considering that it took more than two months for Noh Kyung-eun (then Doosan Bears) to return to the first team after being hit by a ball during training in mid-February 2015, there were also negative predictions that it would be difficult for her to return to the team until KS. However, she quickly recovered from her physical condition.
It was hard to tell how high his ball power would be. He started off shaky. He sent out Kim Ji-chan, the leadoff hitter, with a straight walk in the first inning. He then induced Kim to ground out to the second base, but due to a catch error by first baseman Seo Geon-chang, his nail got back on track quickly. After striking out Lewin Diaz, Kang Min-ho’s double put him on the verge of hitting the second and third bases with two outs, but he allowed Kim to strike out again with a swing and miss. The two strikeouts he got in the first inning were the sweeper, a kind of deformed slider and the main weapon of nailing.
Nail allowed no runs during the second to third innings in the fourth inning. She struck out Kang Min-ho, Kim Young-woong, and Park Byung-ho three times in a row, but all of them were found to be “sweeper.” The sweeper also displayed superb performance in the sixth strikeout of the game, which she garnered off Ryu Ji-hyuk with one out in the fifth inning. Nail cruised through the fifth inning with one out, and was hit with a bullet in the sixth inning. She allowed a superior home run to leadoff hitter Kim Hun-gon, only to be hit by a sweeper accidentally. Nail, who allowed a walk to Diaz, immediately turned over the baton to Jang Hyun-sik.
“(Nail) threw so well. I think he pitched so well when he got over 60 pitches,” KIA manager Lee Bum-ho said after the suspended game. “I made up my mind to let him pitch one more inning until the sixth inning. If there was a crisis in that situation, I would change the pitch. If a batter hits a solo home run well, so don’t worry. I think he has found his condition. I expect better pitching going forward.” 먹튀검증
