‘Three strikeouts’ in his first start back…why did LG put Park Myung-geun on the mound?

LG Twins pitcher Myung-geun Park “Gojoluki” Park struggled in his first start back.

Park entered the game in relief in the bottom of the eighth inning of the 13th game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League against the Samsung Lions at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on Friday, with the team trailing 3-4.

Previously, Park Myung-geun left the game against the Jamsil KT Wiz on March 6. The reason was elbow pain, and LG decided that Park needed to be managed. After getting plenty of rest, Park went into “game mode” in a Futures League game against SSG Landers on March 12, pitching ⅔ innings of one-hit ball with one walk and one strikeout.

Park, who took the mound after being called up by the coaching staff on the day of his first-team call-up, got off to a shaky start in the bottom of the eighth inning with a leadoff walk to Kang Min-ho. After a walk to Lee Sung-kyu, he gave up back-to-back singles to Ryu Ji-hyeok and Kang Kang-ul to quickly put the bases loaded.

His pitches were shaky, with only two strikes out of 14 pitches, and LG called on Choi Dong-hwan with the bases loaded. Choi gave up a two-run double to Oh Jae-il, the first batter of the game, and Park Myung-geun was forced to surrender two runs. 안전놀이터

Before the game, LG manager Yoon Kyung-yeop said, “First of all, I’ll pitch comfortably with a two- or three-run deficit, and then I’ll pitch one day (without a streak) and take a day off until the third game. After three games, we’ll start pitching,” he said of his plans to utilize Park.

After watching him pitch from the dugout, Yeom explained why he sent Park to the mound for the 14th game of the season against Samsung on the 16th, saying, “We were losing by one run, so I thought we were relaxed, and the hitters we had to face were the bottom of the order, and they were right-handed hitters.”

The cause of the poor performance was “balance,” according to Yoon. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been up there, so I think my balance was off. I should have changed the pitcher when there were two runners out, but the timing of the change was one tempo too late. I thought about the player’s pride, so I just dragged him out.”

If all goes according to plan, Park will likely get 16 days of rest without pitching back-to-back games. First and foremost, it is important that Lee Jung-yong, who has taken over the starting role, does a good job of shutting down Starr.