'Yang Chang-seop starts → Samsung wins 12th, loses once' — Crazy! "Every time I take the mound, I'm just happy the team wins; no regret at all about not being the winning pitcher"

*This content was translated by AI.

'Starting pitcher' Yang Chang-seop (27) is a winner whenever he takes the mound for Samsung Lions. Although he missed out on an individual win, he perfectly fulfilled his role as the 'fairy of victory' who leads the team to triumph. This season, having fully awakened, Yang Chang-seop expressed relief at contributing to the team's victory.

On the 23rd, Yang Chang-seop started against Kiwoom Heroes at Seoul Gocheok Sky Dome, pitching six innings with six hits allowed, no walks, two strikeouts, and zero earned runs in a strong performance. This marked his fourth Quality Start (QS) of the season — defined as six or more innings pitched with three or fewer earned runs allowed.

This season, Yang Chang-seop has appeared in 16 games, starting 13 of them. In those 13 starts where he was not used as a reliever, Samsung posted an overwhelming record of 12 wins and 1 loss, with a winning percentage of 0.923. Although Yang left the mound while leading 1-0, his eligibility for the win disappeared after Kiwoom tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning. However, Samsung secured a 3-1 victory in a tense extra-inning battle, reaffirming the formula: 'Whenever Yang Chang-seop takes the mound, the team wins.'

In fact, Yang Chang-seop also showed great fighting spirit on this day. In the bottom of the fourth inning, he was hit by a hard-hit ball from Ahn Chi-hong and fell to the ground, but quickly shook himself off and continued pitching. With two outs and bases loaded in the fourth inning, he induced Kim Dong-heon into a third baseman's grounder, ending the inning without allowing any runs while maintaining his composure.

His pitch count management also shone. Yang retired the side in order with just eight pitches in the fifth inning and struck out Davidson and Kim Woong-bin in the sixth to complete six scoreless innings. His fastest pitch on this day reached 148 km/h, and he maintained a consistent average fastball velocity of around 145 km/h. He effectively mixed various breaking balls including changeups, two-seam fastballs, curves, sliders, and slurve.

After the game on the 23rd, Yang Chang-seop reflected on his pitching: "After the fourth inning, (Kang) Min-ho advised me, 'Your two-seamer is working well today, so let's rely more on it than your fastball.' That strategy worked out well and led to a good result."

Regarding missing the win, he remained calm. Yang said, "I have no desire for the win, so I feel no regret at all about not being the winning pitcher today." He added, "Most importantly, I'm satisfied that I pitched six innings, and I'm just happy that the team wins whenever I start." Finally, Yang also expressed his determination: "I will continue to work hard until the end of the season and show good performance in every game."

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*This content was translated by AI.