*This content was translated by AI.
He had an unusually unlucky season. Despite good pitching performances, he struggled to accumulate wins due to lack of support from the team's offense or collapses in the bullpen. In 13 starts, despite an ace-level performance, he recorded only two wins. Finally securing his third win, he passed the ball to his teammates and conveyed his sincere thoughts in detail. This is the story of KIA Tigers foreign ace James Nail (33).
On the 13th, KIA secured a 2-1 victory over the Doosan Bears in a 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League regular-season home game held at Gwangju-KIA Champions Field.
With this win, KIA escaped a three-game losing streak, improving their record to 34 wins, 1 tie, and 30 losses. On the same day, KIA moved up to fourth place by defeating the Hanwha Eagles, who had lost to the Kiwoom Heroes, pushing them down to fifth. The gap between KIA and the sixth-place Doosan increased from 0.5 games to 1.5 games.
On this day, KIA's starting pitcher Nail pitched six innings (88 pitches total), allowing five hits, issuing no walks, recording six strikeouts, and surrendering one earned run, achieving his third win (four losses) of the season. Nail pitched scoreless from the first through the fifth innings. His only run allowed came in the sixth. Doosan's leadoff batter, Park Chan-ho, reached base with a double to left-center field. Then, on a ground ball by Son A-seop to the second baseman, Park Chan-ho advanced to third base and scored on Yang Eui-ji's sacrifice fly to left field. Nail left the mound in the bottom of the seventh inning with KIA leading 2-1. The KIA bullpen then pitched well to preserve the victory.
After the game, Nail said, "I am happy to win at home for the first time in a while. It was a valuable victory that broke the team's losing streak. It was a tough game facing (Doosan) batters who were in good hitting form, but our quick approach to battle the batters led to a good result."
He continued, "Before the game, we made a plan through thorough analysis of all batters. The main plan for today was to take counts with breaking balls at the right timing and to battle without issuing walks. The game unfolded exactly as planned. It was a game that showed my 2024 and 2025 season form." He expressed his confidence.
The manager also did not hold back on praise. Lee Beom-ho, KIA's manager, said after the win, "Nail responsibly covered six innings again today. In a one-run lead situation, the winning trio of Jo Sang-woo, Jung Hae-young, and Sung Young-tak held onto that lead until the end. In the field, Kim Tae-gyun steadily led the pitching staff. The offense also performed well. Byun Woo-hyuk and Kim Ho-ryeong also contributed to the team's victory by recording RBIs."
Nail said, "In today's game, I particularly had great chemistry with Kim Tae-gyun. It felt like we were moving toward the same goal. We may not always be perfect, but we maintain a good relationship by communicating frequently. I am grateful to Kim Tae-gyun for leading us to today's victory." He then added, "In the bullpen, Jo Sang-woo, Jung Hae-young, and Sung Young-tak secured the win. They showed wonderful pitching on the mound without being intimidated." After passing the ball to his teammates, he said, "I hope we can maintain this level of performance consistently and show good form in the remaining games," looking ahead to the future.
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*This content was translated by AI.
