Samsung pitcher Won Tae-in added a win for the first time in 44 days, recording his fifth win.
After reaching 10 wins for the second year in a row, Won is unlikely to reach 10 wins this year. Won will take a break from the regular season in late September to compete for the Korean National Team at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
While Won has put aside his desire for 10 wins, he has expressed a desire for quality starts (six innings or more and no more than three earned runs), which is what he is capable of doing.
Won faced off against LG ace Plutko on the 15th in Daegu against LG. Before the game, Kang Min-ho told Won, “Just give me a six-inning, three-run quality start.” Won Tae-in thought that if he gave up three runs against Plutko, he would lose the game, so he confidently said, “I will give up one run in six innings.”
However, in the first inning, he was hit by back-to-back singles and scored two runs. “I should have said six innings and three runs, like Min Ho-hyung said,” Won said with a laugh.
After scoring two runs in the first inning, he changed his pitching design. “The LG hitters hit the ball well with a good course, and I was planning to compete with changeups instead of power, but Min Ho-hyung also threw a lot of signature changeups. I felt comfortable throwing it to catch it.”
Won did not allow a run from the second to the sixth inning, pitching six innings and two runs. In the bottom of the sixth, the Samsung bats rattled off four straight hits against Plutko to cut the deficit to 4-2. Won turned the ball over to the bullpen in the seventh inning.스포츠토토
Won said, “It’s been a long time since I’ve come down with the requirements of a winning pitcher. I was hoping to avoid a loss, but it felt good to get the win,” Won said. Won was the winning pitcher in Samsung’s 6-5 victory.
Courtesy of the Samsung Lions
Won is most concerned with quality starts. Won had 16 QS in 2021. “My brother Min-ho always tells me that even if you don’t win, you can still get a QS,” he said, adding that he has 14 this season and hopes to add three or four more to his personal best. “Even if I give up one or two runs in the first inning, I try to hold on until the sixth inning and throw with the idea that I can do QS,” he added.
Won is tied for fifth with LG’s Plutko and teammate Buchanan with 14 QS. KT’s Ko Young-pyo and Doosan’s Alcantara are first with 17 QS. Hanwha Peña and Kiwoom Hurado are tied for third with 15 QS.
Won Tae-in is 5-6 with a 3.50 ERA in 20 games. He is tied for 28th in wins, but is tied for fifth in QS.
“In the offseason, I worked out with Young-pyo in the U.S., and I realized that I needed to minimize my walks to get QS. Young-pyo rarely strikes out. I’m trying to keep my strikeouts down as well. In a 3-ball-1 strike, I throw with the idea that even if I hit a home run, I won’t give up a walk. That’s why I’m number one in walks,” he laughed, adding, “I’m in touch with Young-pyo often. I told him, ‘I’m going to follow your butt,'” he said.
Courtesy of the Samsung Lions