It was in vain again. The winning clock of Kim Kwang-hyun, the 36-year-old “eternal ace” of the SSG, still stopped on April 10.
Kim Kwang-hyun’s early pace was amazing. Kim Kwang-hyun, who was the starting pitcher in the opening game against Lotte at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on March 23, reported his first win of the season with six hits, two walks, six strikeouts and three runs left in five innings. Kim Kwang-hyun, who won his second game of the season by pitching six innings of two hits, four walks, seven strikeouts and one run, got off to a flying start by earning his third win of the season by pitching six innings of four hits, one walk and six strikeouts and two runs against Kiwoom in Incheon on April 10.안전놀이터
More than a month has passed, but Kim still has only three wins. After winning his third game of the season, he pitched in seven games, but only lost three games.
Kim’s misfortune continued at Jamsil Stadium on Tuesday. “I intend to deploy the strongest bullpen pitchers quickly,” SSG coach Lee Soo-yong said ahead of the game. Somehow, (Kim) Kwang-hyun needs to win one game and change the atmosphere. Only when he has energy, can the team become active,” he said, expressing his intention to launch a “Kim Kwang-hyun Victory Project,” but the game did not go as planned. Kim pitched well, but there was nothing he could do about it as the batters did not explode.
Kim Kwang-hyun, who pitched a fast ball with a maximum speed of 148 kilometers, failed to form a winning pitcher even though he pitched well against Doosan’s batters with two hits, one walk, six strikeouts and one run in six innings. SSG only tied the game 1-1 with Jihoon Choi’s timely triple in the top of the seventh inning, but both Choi Jung and Guillermo Herredia failed to turn the game around because they were blocked by Doosan rookie pitcher Kim Taek-yeon’s good pitching.
Kim Kwang-hyun’s suspension of three wins in the season also means that he has not won more than 161 wins in his career. Kim Kwang-hyun has 161 wins in his career and is tied for third with Jung Min-chul in the all-time KBO league career multi-win ranking.
In the early part of this season, Kim Kwang-hyun quickly won three wins, narrowing the gap with Yang Hyun-jong, who won 168 wins in total until last year, to seven wins, but the gap between the two pitchers has widened again by 10 wins as Yang Hyun-jong added three wins while Kim Kwang-hyun’s multiplier stopped.
Yang Hyun-jong won his first victory in his fourth appearance of the season by pitching well with five hits, two walks, and two strikeouts in six innings against Hanwha in Daejeon on April 13, and won his second win of the season by pitching well with four hits, one walk, six strikeouts and two runs in seven innings against Kiwoom in Gocheok on April 25, and his third win of the season by pitching completely with eight hits, one walk, six strikeouts and one run in nine innings against KT in Gwangju on May 1. He has not won in three games since then, but he is still less unlucky than Kim Kwang-hyun.
The competition for victory among the left-handed pitchers representing the Korean baseball is significant in that they reach 200 wins in total, and furthermore, they are close to the legend of 210 wins left by Song Jin-woo. However, it is frustrating because Kim Kwang-hyun’s winning clock is still not moving. Attention is focusing on whether Kim will be able to achieve 162 wins in his next game after overcoming long misfortunes.