Is it time to adjust to the situation? He needs to show the prowess of a pitcher with 36 wins in the big league, but he has become the target of intensive hitting. He reaffirmed the question mark against Eric Lauer (29), who should be the starting pitcher for the KIA Tigers.
In a regular season game against the NC Dinos in Changwon on Sunday, Lauer left the mound after allowing five hits, one walk, six strikeouts and four runs in five innings. With six consecutive wins on the mound, Lauer hoped to continue his upward trajectory, but gave up the win and his team suffered a crushing defeat of 4-17. Lauer lost for the first time this season and his ERA rose to 6.08.
Lauer gave up only one hit until the third inning to block the NC Dinosaurs from taking the mound. Through the third inning, Lauer had dominated the mound by garnering two strikeouts per inning and six strikeouts.
His batting order turned around once. However, at the second meeting, Lauer lost control of his command and allowed a concentrated hit. In the fourth inning, he gave up a critical hit to leadoff hitter Seo Ho-cheol. He induced Davidson to ground out to the shortstop, but managed to reach second base with one out. In the end, he gave up a timely double to the left-center field to Kwon Hee-dong. The score was tied at 1-1, and with one out and runners on the second base, Kim hit a timely double to the left-center field, reversing the game 1-2.
Kim allowed a straight walk. Kim Hyung-joon was treated with a shortstop in-field fly to make the first and second bases with two outs, but allowed a pitch that hit Kim Joo-won. He caused himself a crisis with the bases loaded with two outs, and was hit with a timely hit to the left by pinch hitter Shin Jae-hwan. He allowed four runs in an instant, and his opponent failed to steal a double base, culminating in the fourth inning. In the fifth inning, Lauer was replaced afterwards with three outs.
On the day, Lauer threw 51 four-seam fastballs with a maximum speed of 151 kilometers. He used 20 cutters, seven changeups, seven curves, and four sliders.
Lauer has had an impressive career in the big leagues. In the big leagues alone, he pitched in 120 games, started in 112 games, and won 36 games overall. Notably, in 2022, he made 29 starts for Milwaukee Brewers, recording 11 wins and 7 losses with an ERA of 3.69 (65 earned runs in 158 ⅔ innings) and 157 strikeouts. He was also evaluated as a good starting resource in the big leagues. Recently, his performance has been evaluated due to elbow inflammation and shoulder injury, but he is still one of the highest level among foreign pitchers who can come to Korea.
However, even in his third appearance on the Korean stage, Lauer did not receive a report card that everyone could nod to. Notably, as confirmed in the match against NC D.C., Lauer allowed a concentrated hit after the batting order went around once. In three KBO league games, Lauer had a batting average of 421, when he faced his second batting order after one turn, and his POPS reached 1.297.
Lauer is not just a player he brought in looking ahead to the regular season. He was brought in as a “winning contractor” who would lead Kia to victory in the Korean Series by firmly maintaining its current No. 1 ranking. A total of 350,000 U.S. dollars, including a down payment of 50,000 dollars and an annual salary of 300,000 dollars, was the maximum amount that a new foreign player could be given.
In particular, Crow has already suffered considerable losses to bring in Lauer. He invested a total of 1 million U.S. dollars and 800,000 dollars in guarantees with Wil Crowe, a powerful right-handed foreign pitcher who pitched in 94 games (29 starts) of the big league and won 10 games 토토사이트. However, Crow’s concerns over his injury risk have turned out to be a reality. He was virtually out for the season after eight games due to an elbow injury.
Cam Aldred, who replaced Crow as a temporary substitute, was also given a total of 325,000 U.S. dollars. He was a substitute, but he expressed his commitment to stay with Crow until the end of the season. Aldred, however, also had three wins and two losses and an ERA of 4.53 during nine games. It was less than expected. Eventually, he let go of Aldred, which he thought would be a long-term alternative. As Crow and Aldred were released at the same time, he lost 1.5 billion won (approx.
While giving up a considerable amount of 1.5 billion won, Kia has been desperate and is showing strong commitment to win this year’s championship. It is like leaving Lauer to decide the fate of this season. However, if Kia shows such unstable performance now, it will inevitably complicate its mind.
It is comforting to say that he has only thrown three games. Kia has about 25 more games to play, and considering its schedule, it has five to six more to play. It is not a large number of games. Will Lauer be able to regain the prestige of the big leaguer during the remaining period.
