Who would throw stones at Lee Byung-hun... The sorrow of the league's only left-handed reliever with the most appearances [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. With a single 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. It was regrettable that in the subsequent extra-inning chance with one out and runners on first and second, Park Jun-soon struck out and Yang Eui-ji flew out to right field.

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

The Samsung lineup continued with left-handed hitters Kim Sung-yun, Choi Hyung-woo, Diaz, and Ryu Ji-hyuk. Doosan's choice was left-handed pitcher Lee Byung-hun (23). He had pitched 9 1/3 innings against LG Twins 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-yun, but gave up 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-yun 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 to ground out to second base in succession.

Lee Byung-hun allowed two hits, including a go-ahead run, to two batters without an out, resulting in one earned run. However, there is no reason to throw stones at Lee Byung-hun. He is currently the only left-handed pitcher in the Doosan bullpen. Consequently, he is frequently called upon to face left-handed batters. Recently, with closer Kim Taek-yan sidelined due to injury, Lee Byung-hun's burden has become even heavier.

Lee Byung-hun appeared in 17 of the team's 26 games this season (65.4%). Along with KT Wiz's Sugimoto, he has the most appearances in the league. He has already made six consecutive two-day appearances. Last week, he pitched on Wednesday-Thursday and Saturday-Sunday; the week before, he pitched on Tuesday-Wednesday and Friday-Saturday, appearing in four games in two consecutive weeks. 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 earned runs, 11 unearned). His batting average against is 0.368 (21 hits in 57 at-bats), and in scoring position, it reaches 0.423 (11 hits in 26 at-bats). His WHIP (walks plus hits per inning) is also high at 2.11. Particularly concerning for a relief pitcher is his inherited runner run rate of 47.06% (8 out of 17 runners scored), meaning he allowed nearly half of the inherited runs to score. He also has three blown saves, ranking first in the league. This is the sorrow of being the "only left-handed reliever."

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

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.