Choi Seung-yong (24, Dusan Bears), looking to prevent a midweek series sweep, left the mound with the game tied after five innings.
Choi took the mound against the SSG Landers in the 2023 KBO League regular season opener at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Wednesday, allowing two runs on five hits (two home runs) with one walk and three strikeouts in three and one-third innings before giving way to Kim Myung-shin in the fourth. He gave up a bases-loaded walk in the fourth inning, so he didn’t go the full five innings and came out of the game with a 2-2 record. His ERA dropped slightly from 5.88 to 5.85.
Choi, who was projected as the fifth starter before the start of the season, briefly moved to long relief in May, but has been a fixture in the starting rotation ever since. However, he has had his ups and downs. He had a strong May with a 4.15 ERA, but his three-game stretch in June saw him struggle mightily with two losses and an 8.49 ERA. As Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop said on June 18, “He has to overcome himself. I’m giving you a chance, so if you miss it, you don’t know when you’ll get another chance.”
Lee made his first appearance on the 22nd. It wasn’t a 180-degree turnaround. Choi was shaky from the first inning. He got SSG’s table-setters 토토사이트 Kim Kang-min and Choi Ji-hoon, but couldn’t get anything over the center field line. He threw a 117 km/h slow curveball to the No. 3 batter, Choi Jeong, right down the middle, which the batter didn’t miss and smashed over the left field fence for a solo shot. It was Choi’s 16th home run of the season and 445th of his career.
Before Choi could recover, there was another home run. The next batter, Guillermo Heredia, hit a 142 km/h fastball in the high zone and connected with a 121.8-meter back-to-back home run over the left field fence.
The back-to-back home runs in the first inning could have been a distraction, but Choi held on for the next two innings. Back on the mound in the second inning, he gave up a leadoff single to Kang Jin-sung, but struck out the next batter, Choi Jun-woo, on a swinging strikeout by dropping his signature slider. He then quickly retired Lee Jae-won (one pitch) and Kim Chan-hyung (two pitches) with his trademark aggressive and economical pitching.
After retiring the side in order in the third, Choi took the mound in the fourth. But that’s when he got shaken up. He induced the first batter, Heredia, to fly out to center field, but then faltered badly. After giving up a straight fly ball to Park Sung-ho, he gave up back-to-back singles to Kang Jin-sung and Choi Jun-woo to load the bases.
Eventually, Lee’s patience ran out. Choi turned the mound over to Kim Myung-shin, who got out of the inning without allowing another run.
At the end of the fourth inning, the score remained tied at 2-2.