‘Perfect until 8th episode’ Baek Jung-hyun “I was conscious from the 3rd episode”
Samsung Lions veteran left-handed pitcher Baek Jung-hyun (36) missed a perfect game with five out counts, but led the team to two consecutive victories with good pitching to wash away the sluggishness.
Baek Jung-hyun started as a starting pitcher in the 2023 Shinhan Bank Sol KBO League Kiwoom Heroes held at Gocheok Sky Dome on the 18th, and scored 3 hits, 6 strikeouts and 2 runs in 8 innings, leading the team to a 6-4 victory. Baek Jeong-hyun harvested his first win (2 losses) of the season.
Baek Jeong-hyun continued his perfect streak until the 8th inning with 1 out, raising expectations for the birth of a perfect game that had never been played in professional baseball, which celebrated its 42nd year this year.
The perfect streak came to an end when he gave up an infield hit to Edison Russell in the 8th inning with no one out and no runners.
After the match, Baek Jung-hyun said, “I’ve been thinking of perfection since the 3rd inning. Ever since I was young, my dream has been to play a perfect game. I always went up with that mindset when I climbed the mound.” That’s why it wasn’t awkward for the perfect situation to follow.”
When asked how the dugout atmosphere was, he said, “I felt that my colleagues were cautious. That situation was fun. They tried not to talk to each other and acted as if they were treating (me) as someone who didn’t exist.” He said he was nervous too.”
Baek Jeong-hyeon had a maximum speed of 138 km/h that day, but he did not allow a batter to reach base until one out in the 8th inning with a blade control.
Baek Jung-hyun said, “I tried to throw actively (conscious of perfection). (Kang) Min-ho hyung also led well with good balls. Breathing was good.”
On this day, Baek Jung-hyun, who threw a mix of fastball, curve, slider, and changeup, used 19 out of 93 pitches as a changeup. In the previous two games this season, his changeup rate was only 6.7%, but on this day it reached 20.4%.
He explained, “I threw a lot of sliders in the last game. Minho told me to play with a good changeup in this game. So he prepared more changeups, starting with pitching in the bullpen.”
In addition, he emphasized, “I was conscious of the speed (in the previous mound), so the purpose of the ball seemed to have disappeared. So I paid attention to the control.”
He added that he was also lucky. 카지노사이트
Baek Jeong-hyeon said, “There were a lot of misspellings. There were many situations where it could have been a hit. Such balls kept getting caught by the fielder.”
The process of giving up an infield hit was very disappointing. Russell’s batted ball hit Baek Jung-hyun’s glove and was deflected, leading to an infield hit. Samsung shortstop Lee Jae-hyun caught the deflected ball and hurriedly threw it to first base, but it was after Russell stepped on first base.
Baek Jung-hyun recalled, “The moment Russell’s batted ball refracted, I thought ‘It’s over’. It felt like waking up from a dream.”
Baek Jeong-hyeon, who tried to win a complete shutout after the perfect break, was blown away by giving up two runs in the ninth inning.
Even in the top of the ninth, Baek Jeong-hyeon, who was on the mound, scored a double from lead batter Kim Dong-heon and a triple from Lim Byung-wook.
In the end, Samsung defeated Baek Jung-hyun and put Lee Seung-hyun on the mound. Lee Seung-hyun allowed Lee Yong-gyu to sacrifice fly, and Baek Jung-hyun eventually scored two runs.
Baek Jung-hyun commented, “It took a bit of strength in the ninth inning. It seems that the Kiwoom hitter also actively attacked.”