'How could this happen?' Huarado allows a season-high 7 runs! 'Early removal' after 5⅓ innings, 7 runs allowed against NC

*This content was translated by AI.

Ariel Huarado (30), the 'foreign ace' of the Samsung Lions, collapsed after delivering his most painful outing since the start of the 2026 season.

On the 2nd, Huarado started against the NC Dinos in the 7th inter-team game of the '2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League' at Daegu Samsung Lions Park, recording 5⅓ innings, 9 hits allowed (1 home run), 2 walks, 1 strikeout, and 7 runs allowed (5 earned runs).

Huarado was shaky from the first inning. After allowing a leadoff home run to leadoff batter Kim Ju-won in the top of the first, Huarado got the subsequent batters to make outs and finished the inning, and seemed to find stability by retiring the side in order in the top of the second.

However, he wavered again starting in the third. In the top of the third, a walk to leadoff batter Kim Hyung-jun, followed by a hit from Oh Jang-han and an infield hit from Kim Ju-won, created a bases-loaded, no-out crisis. Huarado induced a double play from Lee Woo-seong (shortstop to second baseman to first baseman), trading two outs for one run, but the spark for additional runs did not die out.

Ultimately, he could not withstand the fierce offensive power of the NC lineup in the fourth and fifth innings. In the top of the fourth, with one out and runners on first and third following hits from Park Geon-woo and Kwon Hee-dong, a ground ball from Seo Ho-cheol and a sacrifice fly from Kim Hyung-jun allowed two runs. In the top of the fifth, he gave up a two-run double to Park Min-woo, and the score stretched to 1-5.

After Samsung scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth to close the gap to 3-5, Huarado took the mound again in the top of the sixth but received no defensive help. Leadoff batter Kwon Hee-dong reached base on a shortstop error, and Huarado quickly lost control. After issuing a walk to Kim Hyung-jun with one out and a runner on second, he eventually gave up a two-run single to Oh Jang-han and hung his head.

The Samsung bench then made a move. They replaced the pitcher with veteran left-hander Baek Jeong-hyun. However, Baek allowed a two-run single to Lee Woo-seong with two outs, and Huarado's total runs allowed increased to 7 (5 earned runs).

In fact, prior to this game, Huarado's pace this season was nearly perfect. In 11 games this season, he pitched 70⅔ innings with a record of 7 wins, 1 loss, and an ERA of 2.17. He had thrown the most innings in the league and recorded the most quality starts (6 innings or more with 3 earned runs or fewer).

In particular, even though there were no decisions in two games against NC this season, he had shown an extremely strong performance with an ERA of 2.25 over 12 innings, making today's 7 runs allowed an even greater shock to Samsung.

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*This content was translated by AI.