SSG Landers right-handed underhanded pitcher Jong-hoon Park couldn’t change the mood.
Jong-hoon Park took the mound for SSG’s home game against the KT Wiz of the 2023 KBO Baseball League at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on Thursday.
Jong-hoon is a right-handed underhanded pitcher who made his professional debut with SSG’s predecessor, the SK Wyverns, in 2011 and has worn the SSG uniform ever since. In 212 games (997 innings) in the first team until last year, he posted a 69-67 record with a 4.62 ERA.
However, Jong-hoon hasn’t been as good this year. The culprit is a shaky delivery. Before this game against KT, his record was 1-4 with a 5.15 ERA in 10 games (50.2 innings).
And on this day, Jong-hoon couldn’t find a way out of his slump with his poor pitching. Coming off the mound with his team trailing 1-8, he will take his fifth loss of the season if SSG fails to tie the game and loses.
It started off badly. In the top of the first inning, he gave up a walk to leadoff hitter Kim Min-hyuk and stole second base. Kim Sang-soo and Anthony Alford both walked, and the next batter, Park Byung-ho, hit a solo shot just over the right field fence. The only consolation was that Jang Sung-woo (shortstop fly), Hwang Jae-gyun (center field fly), and Park Kyung-soo (grounder to second base) prevented further damage.
Park Jong-hoon couldn’t settle down in the top of the second. He gave up a leadoff single to Ahn Chi-young. He then induced a grounder to shortstop to catch Ahn Chi-young rushing to second base, which seemed to give him a breather, but he allowed Ahn to steal second and Kim Min-hyuk singled to put runners on second and third. From there, Park Jong-hoon gave up a single to left field to Kim Sang-soo for the fifth run of the day.
The crisis continued. After giving up a stolen base to Kim Sang-soo, back-to-back walks to Alford and Park Byung-ho put runners on the corners again. Finally, Jong-hoon put his head down when Jang Sung-woo hit a triple over the center field fence. Hwang got Jae-gyun Hwang to fly out to right field to end the threat.안전놀이터
He was shaky in the top of the third. He gave up a single to Park Kyung-soo. He then walked Ahn Chi-young to load the bases, but was hit by a double to center field. Fortunately, he struck out Kim Min-hyuk to end the inning. SSG called up left-hander Baek Seung-gun to the mound in the top of the fourth inning.
His final line was three innings, five hits, one home run, six walks, one strikeout, and eight runs on 79 pitches. His fastball was measured at 137 km/h and he utilized his two-seam (66 pitches) the most.