Lee Bum-ho, manager of the KIA Tigers, said this about Yang Hyeon-jong (36) ahead of the match against Daejeon Hanwha on the 3rd. “The ace of the team is to go up in a difficult situation and overcome it. I think it’s fate for Hyun-jong. I hope he throws well today because he has always pitched in such situations.”메이저사이트
However, something got twisted in the second inning. An Chi-hong’s pitch hit the first base and fell to the right side after one out. He then induced Ha to ground out to the shortstop, hoping for a double play. However, shortstop Park Chan-ho failed to catch the ball at once and spilled it forward, lost his balance, and the ball fell to the second base, and rolled to the right outfield. Due to the throwing error, the team was in a crisis with one out and runners on the second and third bases. Here, the next batter Choi Jae-hoon hit a home run at the first pitch. He threw a fastball of 143 kilometers per hour, but was caught by Choi’s bat to make a three-run homer over the left fence. After the error, the home run was slow.
What was more embarrassing was the next one. Lee hit a ground ball to shortstop and played at the batter’s box against Jonathan Peraza. Before Yang threw the first pitch, the stadium suddenly turned off. The lights on the tower went out and the electronic display went black. Due to the surging power consumption caused by the heat wave, the electrical equipment could not bear the load, resulting in a power outage for four minutes from 6:33 p.m. The players on the ground were withdrawn as the umpires declared a suspension of the game.
A sudden and unexpected situation has a more direct impact on the pitcher who throws the ball than any other player. Yang Hyun-jong, who came down absurdly while throwing the ball on the mound, was highly likely to break his rhythm. The blackout time was four minutes, which was not that long, but it took time for the lighting tower and electronic display to operate properly as power was supplied again. It took 38 minutes for the game to resume at 7:11 p.m.
Usually, when a game is suspended for more than 30 minutes due to rain, the pitcher’s shoulder cools down and he is replaced as a protective measure. As the stoppage time has prolonged due to power outages, the KIA coaching staff is also in deep agony. The team is in an urgent situation due to its four consecutive losses, but it had to take care of the ace pitcher’s body. “It could take longer than 30 minutes, so wouldn’t it be better to change it?” coach Lee Bum-ho and pitching coach Jeong Jae-hoon told Yang about their intention to replace the pitcher.
Yang had no choice but to accept his offer to replace him. “I will throw the ball while controlling my condition as much as possible,” Yang said, before taking the mound again after 38 minutes. Yang finished the second inning, which was longer than ever by swinging and striking out Peraza, and showed his crisis management ability by overcoming the first and third bases with two outs in the third inning, and runners on the first and second bases with no outs in the fifth inning. Yang made a quality start by throwing out three outs for the first time in the sixth inning, and led Kia to a 7-3 come-from-behind victory by allowing seven hits (one homer), one walk, seven strikeouts and three runs (two earned runs). Yang had his eighth win (three losses) of this season, slightly lowering his ERA from 3.66 to 3.60.
After the game, Yang Hyun-jong said, “I was under a lot of pressure because the team was losing consecutive games, but all the players were very determined to break the losing streak. I thought that if the losing streak is prolonged, it could be dangerous to maintain the ranking, so I threw harder.” On May 25, Gwangju Doosan Bears also broke KIA’s four consecutive losses with seven hits, four strikeouts, and one run (non-earned) in seven innings, and Yang Hyun-jong did it again this time. It is not an individual starting win, but the match against Lotte in Gwangju on June 6 (five hits, one homer, one walk, five strikeouts, three runs) and the match against Kiwoom in Gocheok on July 28 (four hits, one walk, three strikeouts and no earned runs in six innings) all pitched well, which served as the foundation for their escape from three consecutive losses.
The match was all the more remarkable in that it overcame the power outage variable. “At first, I thought (electricity) would come back soon. Manager and coach said that the time could be longer than 30 minutes, so I thought it would be better to change it.” Still, it was okay to change it like that since it was a game I threw as a starter. Intermediate pitchers suffered a lot yesterday, and I told them that I would throw the ball while controlling my condition as much as possible. It was not too much to strain,” Yang said.
While the game was suspended for 38 minutes, he kept walking and moving so that his shoulders and body did not cool down. “I didn’t go into the locker room on purpose. There was cold air inside the room, and when the sweat cooled down, I thought it would be hot again. I tried to walk outside as much as possible,” he said. “We lost a point in the beginning, but we caught up with each other by one point. As (Kim) Do-young turned the game around with a home run in the fifth inning, the mood of the team is elevated a lot. As I got into a winning situation, I threw harder with the determination to keep the score.”
Coach Lee Bum-ho also thanked Yang after the game. “I felt the players’ willingness to break the losing streak. The game was interrupted once, but Yang took charge of six innings until the end, helping him to get through the game,” Lee said. “As a veteran, I am deeply grateful that I did not lose my sense of responsibility until the end.”
Until this day, Yang Hyun-jong pitched 127 ⅓ innings in 21 games of the season, recording 8 wins and 3 losses with a 3.60 strikeout and 92 quality starts (QS). He ranks fifth in innings, seventh in ERA, and seventh in QS, showing competitiveness beyond his 36-year-old age by ranking first in innings and second in ERA and QS among domestic pitchers.