'Appearing in the 1st inning' The sorrow of the sole left-handed pitcher, who would dare to throw stones at Lee Byung-hun? [Yesterday's Baseball Scene]

*This content was translated by AI.

April 28 Samsung 5-4 Doosan (Jamsil·Extra 10th inning)

The Doosan Bears achieved a dramatic tie in the bottom of the 9th inning when they were trailing 0-3. After a hit by Kim Min-seok and a walk by Kim In-tae to Soobin, there was one out with the bases loaded. Park Chan-ho's infield single by the shortstop scored one run, and Cameron's two-RBI single to left field tied the game at 3-3. In the subsequent extra-inning opportunity with one out and runners on first and second, Park Jun-soon struck out, and Yang Eui-ji was out on a fly ball to right field, which was a missed opportunity.

In the top of the extra 10th inning that followed, Doosan put Kim Jung-woo on the mound. However, Kim Jung-woo faced a crisis with one out and a runner on second base after a walk by Park Se-hyuk and a sacrifice bunt by Lee Seong-gyu to the pitcher.

The Samsung Lions' batting order continued with Kim Sung-yoon, Choi Hyung-woo, Diaz, and Ryu Ji-hyuk, all left-handed batters. Doosan's choice was left-handed pitcher Lee Byung-hun (23). He had pitched 9 1/3 innings in the 9th inning of the LG Twins game on the 25th, allowing four hits, one walk, and four earned runs in a loss (25 pitches), and had rested for two days before returning to the mound.

Lee Byung-hun threw three sliders in succession to the first batter, Kim Sung-yoon, but allowed a two-run single to left field. Samsung took the lead again, 4-3. In the following at-bat by Choi Hyung-woo, Kim Sung-yoon successfully stole second base, resulting in one out with a runner on second. With a 1-1 count, Choi Hyung-woo hit Lee Byung-hun's third pitch, a 137 km/h slider, for another two-run single to left field. The score extended to 5-3.

Doosan removed Lee Byung-hun and brought in Yang Jae-hoon on the mound. Yang Jae-hoon prevented additional runs by getting Diaz and Ryu Ji-hyuk out in succession with ground balls to second base.

Lee Byung-hun allowed two hits, including a go-ahead run, to two batters without an out, conceding one run. However, there is no situation where he can be blamed. He is currently the only left-handed pitcher in the Doosan bullpen. As a result, he is frequently called upon the mound whenever the team faces left-handed batters. Recently, with closer Kim Taek-yeon sidelined due to injury, Lee Byung-hun's burden has become even heavier.

Lee Byung-hun has appeared in 17 of the team's 26 games this season (65.4%). Along with KT Wiz's Sugimoto, he has appeared in the most games in the league. He has already made back-to-back appearances six times. Last week, he pitched on Wednesday-Thursday and Saturday-Sunday; the week before, he pitched on Tuesday-Wednesday and Friday-Saturday, appearing in four consecutive games for two weeks straight. His pitch counts were also high last week, totaling 10-20-17-25 pitches.

His season record stands at 12 1/3 innings pitched, one loss, three holds, and an ERA of 8.03 (13 runs allowed, 11 earned). His batting average against is 0.368 (57 at-bats, 21 hits), and in scoring position, it reaches 0.423 (26 at-bats, 11 hits). His WHIP (walks plus hits per inning) is also high at 2.11. Particularly important for relief pitchers, his inherited runner run rate is 47.06% (8 out of 17), meaning he has allowed nearly half of the runs to score. He also leads the league with three blown saves. This is the sorrow of being the 'sole left-handed pitcher.'

Doosan managed to score one run in the bottom of the 10th inning against Lee Seung-hyun, who appeared in the inning, with a two-out two-run single by Lee Yu-chan. Samsung escaped the long seven-game losing streak.

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*This content was translated by AI.