"Bang 159.5km in the first game." If you were in Ryu Ji Hyun-ho with 12 2G runs... Korean O'Brien pitched one scoreless inning

*This content was translated by AI.

Riley Jun-young O'Brien (31, St. Louis Cardinals), who was dropped from the national team due to a sudden injury, pitched well from his first game after returning.

O'Brien pitched one hit and one walk in the top of the fifth inning in the 2026 Major League Baseball (MLB) exhibition game against the New York Mets at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Florida on the 8th (Korea time).

O'Brien, who played as St. Louis' main closer at the end of last season, was originally scheduled to join the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) baseball team, but showed calf pain during training, and the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) replaced O'Brien with Kim Taek-yeon (Doosan) on the 19th.

Although Kim Taek-yeon made an impressive pitch against Japan on the 7th, O'Brien, who also played a finishing role in the big league, has a different weight. After receiving an eighth-round pick from the Tampa Bay Rays in 2017 and making his big league debut with the Cincinnati Reds in 2021, he went through the Seattle Mariners in 2022 and settled in St. Louis in 2024.

Last year, he pitched brilliantly with an ERA of 2.06 with 3 wins, 1 loss, 6 saves and 6 holds in 42 games and 48 innings.

Ryu Ji-hyun, head coach of the national baseball team, visited the U.S. four times last year alone to check on Korean major leaguers while also contacting Korean players such as O'Brien early on.

Since the first Saipan camp in January, coach Ryu has talked about O'Brien and Germay Jones (Detroit). They actively persuaded her and they also meant a lot about playing on behalf of their mother's country.

The problem was injury. It wasn't a big problem, but like Moon Dong-ju (Hanwha) and Won Tae-in (Samsung), they decided that it would not be easy to maintain their best condition in time for the opening of the tournament.

O'Brien took the mound in place of starter Kyle Leahy in the top of the fifth inning when his team was leading 2-0. Against Brett Baytty, the first batter, he was attacked by an outside sinker with a ball count of 2-1, allowed a hit to the left, and even gave up a steal to the second base to start nervously.

Then, in the match against Luis Torrens, he sprayed a 99.1 mph (159.5 km) fire-like fastball from the first pitch, and the sweeper, who bent outside after catching the second composition with a strike, did not fall for the opponent and played a full count match, but caught the out with a line drive with a seven-pitch sinker.

Later, Ronnie Mauricio was on the verge of first and third base with one out by allowing a straight walk, but he caught the first baseman with a quick check, and Jose Rojas finished the inning with a fly ball to center field.

In the game, Bae Ji-hwan of the New York Mets expressed regret with two hits and two strikeouts in two at-bats. Mike Turkman, who played for the Hanwha Eagles in 2022, was 1-for-3 with an RBI before being replaced by Bae Ji-hwan. In this exhibition game, he has a batting average of 0.364 (4 hits in 11 at-bats), one homer, four RBIs and two runs, and an OPS (on-base plus slugging) of 1.442.

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*This content was translated by AI.