LG’s Sluggish Performance with by Foreign One-Two Punch
LG’s Sluggish Performance Accompanied by Foreign One-Two Punch… Are you Weighing When to Replace?
The LG Twins, the ‘defending champions’ of professional baseball, are struggling due to the poor performance of their foreign starting pitchers.
In the visiting game against the Samsung Lions on the 21st, LG ended up losing 4-8 as starting pitcher Casey Kelly gave up 8 runs after giving up 8 hits, including 2 home runs, in 5 innings. 안전놀이터
Kelly, who has been living in Korea for six years this year, is far below expectations with 1 win, 6 losses, and an average ERA of 5.72.
Kelly, who entered the KBO League stage wearing an LG uniform in 2019, has been a strong mainstay on the LG mound since his first year, with double-digit wins for four consecutive years and more than 15 wins twice.
However, last year, in his 5th year, he had the most difficult year with only 10 wins (7 losses) due to the ball mix and pattern being clearly read by batters, and this year he is in tears with even poorer performance than last year.
Ens, the first-choice left-handed pitcher whom LG ambitiously recruited, is equally unsatisfactory, with 4 wins and 2 losses and an ERA of 5.37 in 10 games.
Dietrick Ens is said to be failing to properly utilize its long-standing combination of a 150 km/h fastball and a cut fastball.
As the two pitchers, the starting pitcher's one-two punch, are shaky, it is difficult for LG to accumulate a good number of wins.
LG Twins is tied for 5th place, 4.5 games behind SSG Landers and the leader KIA Tigers.
LG suffered from a shortage of starting pitchers last year as well, but the situation was the complete opposite of this year.
Last year, the foreign duo solidified the starting lineup and the domestic pitchers performed poorly, but this year, the native pitchers are doing their part while the foreign pitchers are not living up to their name.
As of the 21st, with 49 games played this season, LG's starting wins were 13, with Choi Won-tae winning the most with 5.
Left-arm Son Ju-young added two wins, and Lim Chan-kyu, who is slowly recovering his form, earned one win.
Looking at the same period last year, Adam Plutko (7 wins) and Kelly (5 wins) combined for 12 wins.