Lotte with a Ponce-level pitcher? "The KBO League has many high-caliber players." A 5G ERA in the single digits, is it real? Explosive potential! "Confident we will finish the season with a strong team record"

*This content was translated by AI.

Judging solely by his performance in the last five games, he has established himself as an ace-level presence comparable to Cody Ponce (currently with the Toronto Blue Jays), who dominated the KBO League last season. Lotte Giants' Elvin Rodriguez once again delivered a powerful outing and earned the win. Expectations for the second half of the season are rising even higher.

On the 7th, Lotte secured a 10-2 victory over KIA Tigers in their home regular-season game at Busan Sajik Baseball Stadium during the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League.

With this win, Lotte improved to 37 wins, 2 draws, and 44 losses, maintaining eighth place in the league. They trail seventh-place NC Dinos by 2.5 games and have closed the gap to fifth-place Doosan Bears to just four games.

Lotte built an insurmountable lead by scoring runs in every inning from the first through the fourth.

Especially standout was Lotte starter Rodriguez's outstanding performance. Over seven innings (87 pitches total), he allowed three hits, issued one walk, recorded nine strikeouts, and surrendered only one earned run, securing his fifth win of the season (5 losses).

The only runs allowed came in the bottom of the first inning. After issuing a walk to leadoff batter Park Jae-hyun, Rodriguez struck out Kim Do-young and Castro with swinging strikes. However, he then gave up a two-run single to Na Sung-beom. Han Jun-soo followed with an infield groundout to second base.

In the second inning, he allowed leadoff batter Park Sang-jun to reach base via a strikeout dropped third strike and a wild pitch, but retired Kim Sun-bin on a fielder's choice double play before handling Kim Gyu-seong on a groundout to third base. In the third, he gave up a double down the left-field line to leadoff batter Kim Ho-ryeong but retired the next three batters on routine outs, building momentum.

The fourth inning was "K-K-K." Rodriguez struck out Na Sung-beom and Han Jun-soon with three pitches each, then froze Park Sang-jun with a looking strikeout on the fourth pitch. In the fifth, he allowed a hit to center field by Kim Gyu-seong with one out but induced Kim Ho-ryeong into a groundout to shortstop for a double play.

In the sixth, he retired KIA's 1-2-3 batters (Park Jae-hyun, Kim Do-young, Castro) in order on routine outs. He returned to the mound in the seventh and again retired all three batters in order, earning loud applause from Lotte fans.

Rodriguez has appeared in 16 games this season with a record of 5 wins and 5 losses, an ERA of 4.26. Over 88⅔ innings, he allowed 84 hits (including 13 home runs), issued 30 walks, recorded 102 strikeouts, surrendered 44 runs (42 earned), posted a WHIP of 1.29, and held opposing batters to a .244 batting average. He has achieved eight quality starts (six innings or more with three or fewer earned runs).

Most notably, he has delivered ace-level pitching in his last five games: six innings allowing one run (June 12 vs. LG Twins), seven innings allowing two runs (June 18 vs. SSG Landers), five innings allowing two runs (June 24 vs. NC Dinos), seven innings allowing one run (July 1 vs. Doosan Bears), and seven innings allowing one run (July 7 vs. KIA). His ERA, which stood at 5.56 on June 5, has since dropped to 4.26. Over his last five games, his ERA is 1.97 (32 innings, 7 earned runs).

After earning the win, Rodriguez said, "I'm very happy to secure a victory in my final start of the first half. It was my first time in the KBO League, and I had to navigate through the first half. There were many high-caliber players, and I made significant efforts to understand them. Although we faced difficulties early in the season, focusing on positive thoughts rather than negative ones seems to have led to these recent good results."

He continued, "There was a crisis in the top of the first inning today. Giving up a walk to the leadoff batter was quite disappointing. After that, I regained my composure and aimed to pitch according to each situation. I had many discussions before the game with the team's power analysis department and the catcher. It seems that reminding ourselves of previously analyzed aspects about opposing batters led to efficient inning management."

Finally, he stated, "I believe the first half was a period for adapting to the league. I will strive to show dedication to the team's victory in the second half, just like in today's game. I am confident we can finish the season with a strong team record."

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*This content was translated by AI.