“Get the water ready.”바카라
Smiles spread across the faces of the KIA pitching staff. They celebrated right-handed starting pitcher Mario Sanchez’s (29) first win in the KBO with an affectionate water baptism.
KIA won 5-1 against KT in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, South Korea, on April 9. The series sweep completed a five-game winning streak.
It was Sanchez’s KBO debut. The right-hander, who replaced Adonis Medina on the roster, pitched 6 1/3 innings of five-hit ball (one home run) with 10 strikeouts and one walk to earn his first quality start (six or more innings pitched and three or fewer earned runs allowed). He totaled 88 pitches (62 for strikes).After the game, as Sanchez spoke with the broadcasters, the pitchers went into the locker room and one by one came back out to the dugout. They started looking for water to celebrate Sanchez’s debut and first win.
Lee first reached for the coffee on the table, then the water. He realized that the water was in a paper bag with a narrow opening, so he tore the opening wider. Choi Jimin joined in and prepared the water together, showing her determination even with icing on her left arm.
Kim Gun-guk and Lee Jun-young held the water in their hands. Yoon Young-cheol, Jung Hae-young, Jang Hyun-sik, and Jeon Sang-hyun each brought two bottles of ionized water. Jang Hyun-sik and Lim Ki-young, in particular, showed off their fierceness by chasing Sanchez until the very end. The pitchers excitedly congratulated Sanchez, and as they dispersed after the mission, Sanchez said, “I feel really good. I hope the rest of the season is the same as today (Sept. 9),” he said, adding, “The pitch I’m most confident in is the sweeper. It’s something I started throwing last year.”
Sanchez was called out for double-kicking and holding. “It didn’t bother me at all,” Sanchez said, “those things made me more excited. I threw with more confidence.”
“I started doing it last year. I saw a teammate I was playing with and I tried it, and it worked well, so I’ve been utilizing it ever since,” he said, adding that it seems to help tie up runners. On double-kicking, he said, “It’s not going to be easy to eliminate, but I’m going to try not to do it.”
He gave himself a 90 on his pitching. “Because I gave up one run,” Sanchez said. It doesn’t matter what my performance is, as long as the team wins.”