KIA Tigers foreign pitcher Eric Lauer tasted his first KBO League debut win in two games.
Lauer started Game 14 of this season against the LG Twins of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Wednesday, and allowed four hits, four strikeouts and one run in five innings, contributing to his team’s 14-4 victory. He pitched 108 pitches, followed by fastballs (56), cutters (34), curves (15), changeups (2), and sliders (1).먹튀검증
Lauer, who drew attention with his stellar career of 36 wins in the big leagues, left a regret in his debut game in the KBO League. He started the game against the Samsung Lions in Gwangju on Sunday and retired in less than four innings with seven hits (two homers), two strikeouts and four runs in three ⅓ innings.
In fact, the process of taking the mound for the second time was not smooth. Lauer ended the bottom of the first inning without losing a point, but the number of pitches he pitched was not small. Lauer turned Hong Chang-ki, the first batter, to two pitches, and gave Shin Min-jae a walk after a game of seven pitches, and threw seven and five pitches, respectively, in the process of striking out Austin Dean and Moon Bo-kyung.
Lauer, who finished the bottom of the second inning with 15 pitches, faced a big crisis in the bottom of the third inning. He allowed his opponent to steal double after leading hitter Song Chan-ui’s hit and follow-up hitter Hong Chang-ki’s walk caused a crisis of scoring rights. Lauer had no choice but to recall the memory of the last game in which he recorded many runs at once.
However, it didn’t collapse this time. When Shin Min-jae grounded out to the second and third bases with no outs, he failed to block third baseman Song Chan’s run, and allowed no run afterwards due to Austin’s strikeout and Moon Bo-kyung’s fly ball. Lauer pitched 25 pitches in the bottom of the third inning.
Lauer, who surpassed 60 pitches even before the end of the third inning, could hardly finish the inning easily, giving up one hit and two walks in the bottom of the fourth inning. He escaped the crisis by striking out Hong Chang-ki with two outs, but Lauer had 97 pitches by the end of the fourth inning. In the bullpen, left-hander Kim Dae-yu was warming up.
However, the batter’s box, which remained silent until the top of the fourth inning, turned the game around by scoring two runs in the top of the fifth inning, and Lauer kept the mound. He grounded out leadoff hitter Shin Min-jae and allowed Austin a hit, but ended the inning with Moon Bo-kyung’s fly ball and Park Dong-won’s walkout strikeout, satisfying the requirement as a winning pitcher. Despite tough times, he played his role as a starting pitcher.
On top of that, Lauer was able to watch the rest of the innings with a light heart as the batters made nine runs in the top of the sixth inning alone. KIA was able to finish the game without consuming the resources of the must-win team thanks to the large number of points scored by the batters after Lauer’s five innings pitched.
After the game, Kia Tigers coach Lee Bum-ho said, “Despite starting pitcher Lauer’s high number of pitches, he took charge of five innings and laid the foundation for our team’s victory. Despite the high number of pitches, he pitched well. Congratulations on your first win in the KBO League.”
“I still can’t believe it. I want to say thank you to the coaching staff who trusted me until the fifth inning,” Lauer said. “It was my commitment. I wanted to finish (the bottom of the fifth inning) by sending a message that asked for one more inning.”
“Of course, I feel a little tired, but whether I throw 80 or 120 pitches, they all feel the same. It was good to finish the game well,” he said. “In the early days of the game, I threw the ball mainly on fastballs and cutters to actively utilize the strike zone, and other pitches tried to throw it into the zone.”