'May ERA 7.02' Crisis for Lotte Foreign Investor, Self-Removed After 1 Inning → Now Even His Waist Hurts... The Club Is Watching

*This content was translated by AI.

To make matters worse, abnormal signs have been detected in the physical condition of Lotte Giants foreign pitcher Alvin Rodriguez (28), who has been struggling.

On the 24th, during a home game against the Samsung Lions at Busan Sajik Baseball Stadium in the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League regular season, Rodriguez recorded one inning with two hits allowed (one home run), no walks, two strikeouts, and two earned runs before being replaced by Lee Min-seok ahead of the second-inning defense.

According to a Lotte club official, the substitution was due to sudden back stiffness during pitching. A club official stated, "We plan to conduct a medical examination after monitoring his condition."

Rodriguez's sudden removal threw Lotte's game operations into chaos. Lee Min-seok held up well beyond expectations with four innings, three hits allowed, two walks, three strikeouts, and one run allowed (zero earned runs), but defensive errors piled up, leading to a 0-10 blowout loss to Samsung. The lineup also failed to perform, contributing to the additional burden of allowing Yang Chang-seop (27) his first career shutout in nine years.

This is bad news for Lotte, which had been slowly rebounding with five wins and five losses in its last 10 games following the return of players suspended for illegal gambling. Rodriguez, signed this year for $1 million, was a right-handed fireballer who threw pitches reaching speeds of up to 157 km/h and was highly anticipated.

In fact, on the 10th last year against the Kiwoom Heroes at Gocheok, he demonstrated his outstanding ability by achieving a dominant start (eight or more innings as a starter with one or fewer earned runs), recording eight innings, four hits allowed (one home run), no walks, 11 strikeouts, and one run allowed.

However, unpredictable control and inconsistency became problems. Rodriguez repeated outings with one or fewer earned runs and three or more earned runs until April, but in May, he collapsed with a 7.02 ERA over four games. It has been over a month since he last secured a starting win.

The lack of starting experience, which was a concern at the time of signing, appears to be working against him. Rodriguez has never pitched more than 140 innings in his career before coming to Korea, and he has only pitched more than 100 innings in two seasons at the Single-A level seven years ago. His previous season's performance was also poor: 9.15 ERA in seven Major League games (19 2/3 innings) and 5.36 ERA in 29 Triple-A games (45 1/3 innings).

Even based on performance alone, a substitution was a concern, but now with the injury, the club's worries are far from trivial.

As of the end of the game on the 24th, Lotte stands at 19 wins, one tie, and 26 losses, remaining in eighth place in the league. They are tied in the lower ranks with last-place NC Dinos (19 wins, one tie, 27 losses) by a half-game margin. However, the gap to fifth-place Hanwha Eagles (23 wins, 24 losses) is only three games, which is not far.

To make a comeback to the middle of the pack, Rodriguez must first stay healthy. For Lotte, which lacks adequate replacement starting resources, Rodriguez, who can still be expected to pitch at least five innings, remains necessary.

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*This content was translated by AI.