Professional baseball LG Twins pitcher Lim Chan-kyu set a record for the most strikeouts in a single game with his life pitching.
Lim Chan-kyu pitched as a starting pitcher in a game against SSG held at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on the 4th and pitched six innings with 10 strikeouts and no outs, marking his ninth win of the season.
Lim continued his relationship as a natural enemy of SSG. He pitched in four games against SSG last year and recorded four wins and an ERA of 2.05. He is also recording two wins and one loss and an ERA of 1.38 in four games this year due to his scoreless pitching. He allowed only four runs in 26 innings.
He started the first inning by striking out Choo Shin-soo, Park Ji-hwan and Herredia for three consecutive times. Choo allowed three strikeouts with 111 kilometers of curves. Park struck out swinging through 127 kilometers of changeup. After throwing three straight curves, Herredia threw a 140-km fastball at 1-2 strikes and secured a rookie strikeout.
He also had three outs in the second inning. Two outs later, he garnered two strikes with 108 kilometers and 109 kilometers of curves, and struck out Ha with a 140-kilometer fastball.
In the third inning, Lee Ji-young, the leadoff hitter, was allowed an infield hit next to the first baseman, but he handled the subsequent three batters with a substitute. He struck out Jung Joon-jae, swung and missed, Kim Sung-hyun hit a fly ball to the center field, and Choo Shin-soo hit a ground ball to the second baseman.
In the fourth inning, Lee Ji-young hit a right-center hit after two outs in the fifth inning, but Jung Joon-jae was grounded out to second base and never allowed second base.
Lim Chan-gyu put Kim Sung-hyun, Choo Shin-soo, and Park Ji-hwan to “KKK” in the sixth inning and recorded 10 strikeouts. This is the highest strikeout tie in an individual game. The previous record was 10K against SK in Munhak on Oct. 13, 2018.
Heredia, Han Yu-sum and Ko Myeong-jun, SSG’s 3rd to 5th hitters, finished with three outs in the seventh inning. He pitched 81 pitches, but he was replaced by bullpen pitcher Lee Jong-joon in the eighth inning with a 5-0 lead.
Lim Chan-kyu, who I met after the game, looked thin. Lim Chan-kyu said, “I had enteritis from three days ago. I didn’t have strength. I think there was some muscle loss,” smiling. “The coach also knew (enteritis) and told me to go until the 7th inning in the 5th inning.” 안전놀이터
Lim Chan-kyu also said, “I was in the worst condition this year. I don’t think it has anything to do with my condition against NC Dinosaurs, which was in the best condition (seven runs in 2.2 innings). I think the most important thing is to just go on with no thoughts.” “I didn’t get any strikes in the bullpen. I was worried for a moment, but I realized that the actual mound was different from the bullpen when I became a veteran, so I left everything to catcher Dong-won and threw it for nothing.”
Lim Chan-kyu threw 81 pitches, 24 fastballs with a maximum speed of 142km, 29 curves, 19 changeups, and 9 sliders. There were many swings and misses on the slow curve, and when the fastball of 140km went in after the curve, SSG batters could not make the bat and struck out the rookie.
“I shook my head just once. (In the seventh inning) I shook my head because I wanted to see if it was Ko Myung-joon at bat or 11K. I think I got a curveball when I liked it because the ball didn’t go (because I didn’t have much strength),” Lim said. “After I gained speed, I was able to bend it a bit faster in the 115km range, and I got caught by the batter. Rather, I think I didn’t get caught by the bat as the ball fell out of my hand.”
He was conscious of setting a new individual record for strikeouts in a single game. “I was disappointed at two strikes in the seventh inning when Eredia and Ko Myung-joon were at bat,” Lim said. Both Eredia and Ko threw curves at the critical ball, but were thrown out due to fly balls to second and shortstop, respectively, instead of swinging.
“I signed a curveball because Dong-won can give me a walk with three balls and two strikes (from Ko Myung-joon’s at-bat). I wanted to throw (a curveball) one-bound at the batter’s box, but that was a bummer,” Lim said. “I wasn’t thinking about 10K until then, but when I thought about catching 11K, I got an in-play ball. I think I was a little conscious of strikeouts. I could just throw as I threw, but the afterimage went in, so that’s a bummer. You never know when you’ll catch 11K.”
