McCarty, who wrote QS again for ‘You’re an Ace’, leads the re-emerging
I thought it was a second starter, but it wasn’t. it was an ace This is the story of SSG Landers foreign pitcher Kirk McCarty (28).
McCarty started메이저놀이터 in the 2023 Shinhan Bank Sol KBO League match against KT Wiz at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 4th, giving up only two hits and one walk in six innings and blocking KT’s other lines with no runs.
With McCarty’s good pitching at the fore, SSG won 10-2 and ended this three-game series with a winning series.
McCarty earned his 3rd win (1 loss) of the season. He lowered his season earned run average from 2.70 to 2.25.
It was a good fight that led to SSG’s re-emerging as the leader. SSG, which became 17-10, pushed the Lotte Giants (15-9), who did not play due to rain, to 2nd place and rose to 1st place. This is the first re-emergency in five days since the 29th of last month.
He displayed efficient pitching, throwing only 85 balls in 6 innings. The strikeout removed eight.
A fastball with a maximum speed of 149 km/h and a cut fastball with a speed of 130 km/h were used as main weapons to fight hard. He threw a curveball and changeup intermittently.
McCarty wrote 5 consecutive quality starts (6 or more starting innings and 3 earned runs or less) starting from the match against Daejeon Hanwha Eagles on April 9th.
McCarty, who was beaten with 10 hits and 8 runs in 3⅓ innings against the Incheon KIA Tigers on April 2, his KBO league debut, has changed dramatically since then.
McCarty, who won his first debut victory by pitching well against Hanwha on April 9 with 6 innings and 1 hit and no run, failed to become a winning pitcher against Incheon NC Dinos on the 15th of last month and Incheon Kiwoom Heroes on the 22nd. did.
McCarty earned his second win of the season with 6⅔ innings, 3 hits (1 home run), 8 strikeouts, 2 walks and 1 run against the Incheon Doosan Bears on April 22, the previous appearance.
SSG started the season with a foreign pitching staff consisting of Annie Romero and McCarty. Originally, it was Romero that SSG picked as the foreign ace to replace Wilmer Font. McCarty was considered a second starter.
But there are variables. Romero pulled out of the line after complaining of shoulder pain during a camp in Okinawa, Japan, last month.
Romero showed no signs of returning until a month after the opening. In the end, SSG, looking for an alternative resource, recruited Roennis Elias as Romero’s replacement pitcher that day.
As the native starting team faltered, the SSG starting mound was in a somewhat unstable state.
Kim Gwang-hyun, a native ace suffering from shoulder inflammation, did not perform as well as expected. Other selection resources, including submarine Park Jong-hoon, right-hander Moon Seung-won, and left-hander Young-gun Oh Won-seok, also had ups and downs.
However, McCarty supported the starting lineup as he played the role of an ace with a series of good pitches.
On this day, McCarty, whose shoulders became much lighter as the batting line raised 5 runs from the first inning, showed off a lean pitch.
McCarty, who walked opponent leadoff Hong Hyun-bin in the first inning, later treated all three batters as beatings.
McCarty allowed an infield hit to lead batter Moon Sang-cheol in the top of the second inning, but quickly increased the outcount by inducing a double hit to Kim Jun-tae. He then turned Kim Min-seong into a strikeout.
From the 3rd to the 5th inning, not a single batter was allowed to reach base. In particular, at the beginning of the 5th inning, Moon Sang-cheol, Kim Jun-tae, and Kang Min-seong were all struck out.
In the top of the 6th inning, McCarty, who also struck out lead batter Moon Seong-joon, was followed up by Lee Si-won with a left-handed hit. However, Hong Hyun-bin was treated with a straight hit to second base, and at this time, runner Lee Si-won, who was trying to run to second base, was out and ended the inning.
McCarty completed his mission by passing the mound to Baek Seung-gun in the 7th inning.
Romero’s injury was a huge loss for SSG. Still, thanks to McCarty’s soft landing in the KBO League, he is fighting for the lead. It wouldn’t be too much to call McCarty a ‘lucky man’.