Aaron Wilkerson (34), who joined Lotte as a substitute for Dan Staley last year and had an impressive season of 7-2 with a 2.26 ERA in 13 games, had a rough day earlier this season.
He got off to a good start with a 1-1 record and a 3.18 ERA in two games in March, and soon came a “shocking” April. Wilkerson was sluggish in five games in April with two losses and a 5.93 ERA. There were two three runs in six innings that barely met the quality start standard (more than six innings and less than three earned runs), but he didn’t do his part in the other games.고수익알바
Wilkerson’s poor performance was even more comparable to Charlie Barnes, who faithfully played the ace role during the same period. But Wilkerson began to live like a salmon up a river in May. In addition, after Barnes left due to injury, he has taken on the role of ace and has become even more powerful.
Last week was a week when I was able to fully realize the power of Wilkerson, who has changed.
Lotte’s Aaron Wilkerson (right) smiles brightly with Yoo Kang-nam, who visited the mound during the second game of the 2024 professional baseball game against the SSG at Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 9th. Courtesy of Lotte Giants
Wilkerson started Game 2 of the 2024 professional baseball SSG at Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 9th, blocked 7.2 innings with eight hits, one walk, seven strikeouts and three runs, and succeeded in winning six games (five losses) of the season. Lotte, which gave up Game 1 of the doubleheader with native ace Park Se-woong 1-5, produced three consecutive winning series by bringing Game 2 of the doubleheader to 5-3 with Wilkerson’s good pitching.
Wilkerson took the mound as the starting pitcher in an away game against KIA on Sunday, and garnered five hits, nine strikeouts, and no outs in nine innings. It was his first shutout in a pro baseball league this year.
Wilkerson seemed a little shaky in the beginning of the game. Wilkerson, who threw a cutter with the first pitch of 139 kilometers to leadoff hitter Jihoon Choi in the top of the first inning, gave up a home run, and was driven to the second and third bases after getting a hit by Lee Ji-young and a double by Oh Tae-gon after one out in the top of the second inning. He grounded out the next batter, Jeong Hyeon-seung, but gave up one more run as third baseman Lee Ji-young entered the home ground.
However, he gave up runs every inning from the top of the third inning to the top of the fifth inning. Notably, he was on the verge of losing another run after being hit by a triple by Guillermo Heredia, the leadoff batter in the top of the fourth inning, but his crisis management ability was the extreme when he struck out Choo Shin-soo and Lee Ji-young in succession, and Oh Tae-gon also caught a fly to right field, and did not lose a run.
Wilkerson, who gave up a sacrifice fly RBI to Heredia in the top of the sixth inning with no outs and runners on the second and third bases, was replaced by Kim Sang-soo after two outs in the top of the eighth inning to finish the game.
The batters also cheered up thanks to the ace’s hard pitching. With runners on the second and third bases with two outs in the bottom of the first inning when the game was 0-1, Lotte turned the game around with Son Ho-young’s two-run timely hit, and Park Seung-wook’s three-base hit with one out in the bottom of the second inning when the game was tying 2-2. He then added two more runs with Yoon Dong-hee’s three-base hit and Ko Seung-min’s timely hit to seal the victory.
Wilkerson won in both of his appearances last week, and posted a 1.08 ERA, which was remarkable. He has already joined the race for the most wins, trailing the group that tied for first (7 wins).
Lotte, which predicted a tough season by falling to the bottom of the standings in the early days of this season, successfully rebounded by producing a winning series in the recent three consecutive games. The achievements are all the more meaningful because they were made against formidable teams, including the leading Kia Tigers, the SSG, and the NC Dinosaurs. At the center of the achievements is the resurgent “Sajir Jesus” just like the real Jesus.