The young pitchers have come together to end the losing streak. Now it’s the ace’s turn to make it a winning streak.

The Samsung Lions’ foreign pitcher David Buchanan is responsible for starting and ending the week. Buchanan will start Game 7 of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League against the Kiwoom Heroes at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on Tuesday. He will be matched up against Choi Won-tae.

After falling into a five-game losing skid last week, Samsung snapped a five-game losing streak with a 7-5 victory over the KT Wiz at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on April 18.

While starter Choi Chae-heung struggled, allowing five runs on 10 hits and two walks with three strikeouts in 4⅔ innings, Moon Yong-ik (1⅓ innings), Yang Chang-seop (1 inning), Kim Daewoo (1⅓ innings), right-hander Lee Seung-hyun (⅔ innings), and left-hander Lee Seung-hyun (1 inning) pitched scoreless innings in succession.

On this day, Samsung played its first game since “veteran” Oh Seung-hwan was expunged from the first-team roster after expressing strong anger during a substitution in the 16th game. The pitchers remained calm and pitched their way to a valuable win. It was a welcome respite from the losing streak.스포츠토토

However, the last week’s schedule (1-5) left Samsung in last place in the league. They were swept by the LG Twins in Jamsil on April 13-15, and then only managed to win one game in a three-game weekend series against KT.

That leaves them with a -4 win-loss margin in one week alone, so the impact is bound to be significant. Samsung will have to rely on their ‘ace’ Buchanan to bounce back.

Buchanan is 4-4 with a 3.38 ERA in 12 games and 74⅔ innings this season. However, after pitching consistently until the middle of last month, he struggled with double-digit ERAs in two consecutive games against the Daegu KT on May 27 and the Daejeon Hanwha Eagles on June 2.

His last start, on June 14 against the LG Twins in Jamsil, was not as fortunate. On that day, Buchanan pitched seven innings of four-hit ball, striking out six and walking two in a Quality Start Plus (QS+) performance, but he couldn’t get any offensive support and suffered his fourth loss of the season.

Barring rain or a rotation mix-up, Buchanan will have to pitch twice this week, first against Kiwoom on the 20th and then against the Incheon SSG Landers on the 25th. Put another way, it’s a chance for Samsung to get one more win out of their ace.

We’re not even halfway through the regular season yet, and with over 80 games left, it’s too early to give up. If Samsung wants to make a run at the mid-table, they’ll need to rebound at least before the end of the first half.

A clean finish to June is also important. Buchanan’s shoulders have never been heavier.