The joy of his first win was no different from his short Korean life in a month when he joined as an injury replacement.스포츠토토
KIA Tigers’ foreign pitcher Eric Stout recorded his first win by pitching one run in five innings against Kiwoom in Gwangju on the 7th. He allowed only five runs in four innings against Samsung in Daegu on the 1st, when he made his KBO League debut, but he left the mound with eight strikeouts in the match against Kiwoom, and eventually won the game with his team’s victory. His teammates’ bucket was a bonus.
While cruising to 10 wins in the Taiwanese professional baseball league (CPBL), he was on a plane to Korea without any regrets at Kia’s offer, but had to make a fierce declaration ceremony to leave the mound in four innings after hitting two homers in his debut match. He could have suffered a lot of damage to his self-esteem. Therefore, he had a counseling session ahead of the match against Kiwoom. “I was quite nervous in the first game, but today I tried to make the most of my strengths such as fastballs and sliders,” he said.
Behind Stout’s efforts were “special advice” from James Nail who is recovering from injury. “Actually, last night, Nail taught me a restaurant, saying, ‘If I eat here, I will win. That’s why I ate there and went to work,” Stout said with a smile. “It’s a secret where that place is. I can never tell you.”
Stout played in the bottom of his nail uniform on the day. “I wore pants with my pants up against Samsung, but the result was not good,” he said. “The rocker I’m using now belongs to my nail, but I found long pants that I haven’t organized yet, so I asked if I could use them.” He smiled and said, “I’m wearing them because I have a lot of them.” When asked, “I’ll wash them well and give them back to you,” he joked, “I’ll probably dry well next week.”
KIA is on its way to win the pennant race. The moment when Stout could take over the role of starting pitcher for the winning game is also approaching.
“I think the atmosphere I threw today is equivalent to the postseason,” Stout said. “I threw in the postseason with the mindset that I will throw in the postseason. I am well aware of the importance of winning the pennant race in the KBO League. I will do my best to be as good as I did today. My family and my girlfriend are coming to Korea soon, and it will be all the more meaningful if I make a good result in front of them.”