At the bottom of the seventh inning, when the team was losing five points, the closing pitcher came up. What is the reason.메이저놀이터
Gocheok Sky Dome on the 10th when the Doosan Bears and Kiwoom Heroes faced off.
Kiwoom hit in the bottom of the seventh inning. Doosan pitcher Hong Kun-hee had a hit by leadoff hitter Kim Gun-hee. He then caught Bae Sang-kwon with a fly ball to right field, but walked to pinch hitter Won Sung-joon.
Doosan Bears’ bench took the mound, and Hong Geon-hee left the mound. The pitcher who left the bullpen is Kim Taek-yeon. He joined Doosan in the first round (second overall pick) in 2024, setting the record for the most saves by a high school graduate, and has established himself as a closing pitcher in the league.
The team was losing five points. It’s not common for a closer to come up. Moreover, it’s not even the last inning.
There was a reason. Doosan was playing the most games this season. As we entered the remaining games, we began to have a break in the middle of the game.
After throwing the ball in the game against Lotte on the 1st, Kim Taek-yeon was “closed.” After the game ends on the 10th, Doosan will play against the NC Dinos in Jamsil on the 13th. If Kim had not taken the mound on the day, he would not be able to throw the ball for about 11 days.
Ahead of the game, Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop said, “There were pitchers who didn’t throw too much. It would have been hard because they threw too many games in the middle of the season, but now they might not be able to throw because they threw too much.”
Kim Taek-yeon was planning a total of 10 pitches on the day. She thought of two batters at most.
A five-point difference could lead to a reversal with just one chance. As we do not know the game situation, we could have considered putting in Kim Taek-yeon at the end of the eighth inning or the bottom of the ninth inning when the game would have been tied or reversed.
For now, he could have considered putting in the bottom of the eighth inning without any runners. However, it was not easy to catch all three outcounts with 10 balls. Notably, the bottom of the eighth inning is an inning in which Kiwoom starts with the first batter. If even one runner plays, the burden will continue on the next pitcher.
First of all, the Doosan bench judged the situation in the bottom of the seventh inning as important. Choi Ji-gang was considered, but his condition was not 100%. In the end, Kim Taek-yeon was selected as a card to prevent and fight back without giving a single point for sure. Kim Taek-yeon struck out both batters with a total of nine balls.
Doosan, which broke Kiwoom’s flow once, turned the mood around when pinch hitter Jeon Da-min hit a double in the top of the eighth inning. However, Yang Chan-yeol, the next pinch-hitter, stepped down with a fly ball to center field, and Jung Soo-bin hit a ground ball and gave up only one point. It was hoped that the lower batters would continue the chance with the top batting line after blocking the seventh inning, but it ended with half a success.
Kim Taek-yeon handed over the mound to Choi in the bottom of the eighth inning after finishing her scheduled pitching. As she recovered a point and blocking another player from the bottom of the eighth inning became important, she had no choice but to post another one, Choi Ji-gang. Everything was over in the bottom of the eighth inning. Kim Hye-sung’s hit and Choi Joo-hwan’s home run gave up two runs, and Doosan’s willingness to chase after them had to be dampened. Doosan lost 1-7. The .500 winning rate collapsed once again.