Three scoreless innings, 8-0 lead. He threw 52 pitches, but Kiwoom Heroes pitcher Jang Jae-young couldn’t get the win. He was replaced by Lee Myung-jong at the start of the fourth inning and was unable to complete the win. With a big lead and few pitches, why was Jang Jae-young sent home early?

Jang Jae-young started the visiting KT Wiz of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on Nov. 11 and threw 52 pitches in three innings, allowing two hits, two walks and no runs with two strikeouts. Although the innings were not long, it was his first no-hitter of the season.스포츠토토

On the day, Jang threw his fastball up to 154 km/h. He faced the KT bats with 26 fastballs that sat between 149 and 154 km/h, a slider that topped out at 138 km/h, and four curves that dropped as low as 127 km/h. It wasn’t perfect, however, as Poseum’s strike-to-ball ratio was only 5-to-5 (13-to-13) and he gave up two walks, but he didn’t give up any runs.

Kiwoom starting pitcher Jang Jae-young pitches during the baseball game between the Kiwoom Heroes and the LG Twins at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Saturday afternoon. Yonhap

With five runs on the board in the first inning, Jang Jae-young gave up a walk to Kim Sang-soo and a single to Alford to put runners on first and second, but Park Byung-ho’s line drive to the second baseman turned into a double play to end the inning with no outs. In the second inning, Moon Sang-chul’s leadoff single was blocked by Hwang Jae-gyun, who then gave up an eight-pitch walk to Lee Ho-yeon but got Kang Hyun-woo to fly out to end the threat.

The third inning was a triple play. Jang got off to a rough start by giving up two balls to the leadoff hitter, but he breathed a sigh of relief by striking out the next three batters for the final out, and then struck out Kim Min-hyuk to end the inning. He then fought a seven-pitch, full-count battle with Kim Sang-soo, but got a grounder to the shortstop to end the inning.

But that was as far as Jang Jae-young would get. He was replaced by Lee Myung-jong to start the bottom of the fourth inning. With an eight-run lead and his pitches starting to settle down, his early departure was a bit of a surprise.

However, Kiwoom decided it was better to cut him while the getting was good. A Kiwoom official said, “We didn’t replace Jang Jae-young because he felt unwell. We had planned for him to pitch only three innings before the game,” explaining the reasoning behind his substitution, saying, “We thought it would be better to replace Jang Jae-young in good times rather than in a crisis so that he can stabilize as a starting pitcher.”

The 2023 KBO Baseball Playoffs between the Kiwoom Heroes and the Samsung Lions was held at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the afternoon of the 18th. Kiwoom starter Jang Jae-young throws the ball in the first inning. Gocheok Kim Min-gyu Reporter mgkim1@edaily.co.kr /2023.04.18/

Jang Jae-young, who had a good performance with a no-hitter on the day, has increased his chances of remaining in the starting rotation. Before the game, coach Hong Won-ki said, “If there are no major changes, Jang Jae-young will continue to play in the starting rotation. He has been preparing a lot for the start since last year’s winter camp. I hope he can take off and land well and show good form consistently.” “I think the position is not created by the coach, but by the player,” he said, adding that he expected his performance.

Meanwhile, after Jang Jae-young went down, Kiwoom scored two runs in the sixth and seventh innings to cut the deficit to four runs. However, the early deficit was not overturned. Instead, Kiwoom scored six more runs in the final inning to secure a 14-5 victory, two straight wins, and the sweep.