It is the first defeat in the bitter major league debut. ‘Ghost Fork’ Senga Kodai (30) failed to achieve his goal.
On the 27th (Korean time), Senga started at the Washington Nationals match in the ‘2023 Major League Baseball’ held at Citi Field in Flushing, New York, USA.
Senga: Alex Cole (left fielder) – Luis Garcia (2nd baseman) – Jamer Candelario (3rd baseman) – Joey Menesiz (DH) – Kybert Lewis (catcher) – Dominic Smith (1st baseman) – Lane Thomas ( Right fielder) – CJ Abrams (shortstop) – Victor Robles (center fielder) against the Washington batting line.
Senga has not lost a single one of his previous four appearances. He was continuing his undefeated march with his main weapon, the forkball, but the end was taken on this day.
In the second inning, Senga shook sharply. After giving up a walk to leadoff batter Lewis, he was hit by a double by Smith, making second and third bases unharmed. After that, Thomas and Abrams gave up one RBI in a timely manner and scored the first run at 0-2.
Pokeball demonstrated its power in every crisis. Senga was driven to the bases with two outs, but Candelario struck out on a swing with a forkball to prevent additional runs. In the beginning of the 3rd inning, he struck out with a forkball, and in the beginning of the 4th inning, he led the opponent’s bat with a forkball in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd bases, producing meaningful results.
Senga finished the mound that day by replacing relief pitcher Jeff Brigham ahead of the defense in the top of the 6th inning, when the team fell behind 1-2. The final result was 5 hits, 4 walks, 7 strikeouts and 2 runs in 5 innings. His earned run average slightly decreased to 4.15 from 4.29 previously.
Senga became the winning pitcher with 5 hits, 4 walks, 7 strikeouts and 4 runs in 5 innings (against the San Francisco Giants on the 21st), but he could not laugh. At the time, in an interview with Japanese local media ‘Sports Hochi’, he expressed regret, saying, “I wanted to throw a long inning (as a starter), but there are parts that I couldn’t work properly.”스포츠토토
Afterwards, he showed a determined will to do his part as a starter, but left the mound early, recording 94 pitches in 5 innings. He also wrote the yoke of defeat with the team’s 1-4 defeat.
Although Senga failed to achieve his goal, he proved his competitiveness against batters by using various pitches, including cutter, sweeper, and forkball. Attention is focusing on whether he will be able to pitch to his own satisfaction in the next pitching.
