카지노The KIA Tigers’ newest foreign pitcher, Mario Sanchez, had an impressive debut.
Sanchez made his KBO debut on Sept. 9 against the KT Wiz at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, giving up one run on five hits (one home run) over 6⅓ innings, striking out 10 and walking none.
Sanchez arrived at KIA on June 6 as a replacement for Adonis Medina. Sanchez had been rumored for some time.
He was very good in Taiwan. He appeared in 10 games (nine starts) and pitched 62⅔ innings for the Tung Yi Lions, going 8-1 with a 1.44 ERA and leading the team in wins and ERA. KT manager Lee Kang-cheol said, “I saw him pitch in the U.S. and Taiwan, and he doesn’t seem to be a wild pitcher. I heard he has a good fastball. He uses a lot of curveballs rather than changeups, and I’m thinking that his fastball is good.” “We don’t have a lot of footage, so we can’t see it in detail, but that’s all we know. I think it must be something good because he calmed down Taiwan. Taiwan used to be really good at fastballs, and the fact that he pitched well in Taiwan means that his fastball is that good, so I think we’ll have to see for ourselves.”
Manager Kim Jong-kook revealed that Sanchez will be pitching normally in his first start since he came from Taiwan. “Sanchez is seeing 90 to 100 pitches. I’m going to let him throw as long as possible,” Kim said, adding, “I think it would be better for him to throw today.”Sanchez gave up a single to Kim Min-hyuk, the first batter of the first inning. But he struck out Kim Sang-soo in the second on three pitches, and in the third, Hwang Jae-gyun stole second. He then struck out Hwang Jae-gyun to end the first inning.
KT batters were unable to hit the first pitch they saw from Sanchez. In the second inning, Park Byung-ho and Jang Jang-woo struck out in succession, Lee Ho-yeon was caught on a grounder in front of the second baseman, and in the third inning, Alford, Ahn Chi-young, and Choi Jae-dae struck out in a triple play. Through three innings, she had allowed one hit and struck out five.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, the umpires called a caution on Sanchez’s pitches. When Sanchez lifted his left foot, there were times when he lifted it in one motion, paused, and then lifted it again, and if he did that even when there were no runners on base, it would be considered an illegal pitch and ruled a ball.Kia pitching coach Seo Jae-heng pointed out that Sean Nolin, who played last year, also did a double motion, but the umpires said that in principle, the pitch should be a single motion.
Despite the caution, Sanchez’s pitching remained unchanged. He retired Kim Min-hyuk and Kim Sang-soo on consecutive infield grounders. He gave up a double to Hwang Jae-gyun in left field, but struck out Park Byung-ho on a full count to end the inning.
The bottom of the fifth inning was a blowout. One out later, Lee gave up a solo shot to No. 6 Lee Ho-yeon. It was a 145-kilometer fastball that came in toward the body, and Lee lifted it over the right-field fence. Sanchez, who had thrown just 70 pitches through 2-1.5 innings, came up in the bottom of the sixth. Two batters later, he gave up a single to Kim Sang-soo. Hwang Jae-gyun and Lee came out to complain to the umpire about Sanchez’s pitching motion. He complained about a pitch that appeared to bend toward first base just before entering set position. However, it was not accepted, and Sanchez seemed to brag that his motion was fine, even more so than Kim Sang-soo, who barely took the lead. Kim Sang-soo barely took the lead.
MBC Sports Plus commentator Park Jae-hong, who commentated on the match, said, “It’s strange, but there’s nothing wrong with it when you look at it,” but added, “I think it will continue to appeal to each team when they meet.” Sanchez stood by his pitch amid the controversy and eventually struck out Hwang Jae-gyun on a wild pitch.
With the score at 5-1 and four runs in the top of the seventh, Sanchez got Park Byung-ho to ground out to second base before giving up a double to Jang Jang-woo, and was replaced by Choi Ji-min with Lee Ho-yeon batting, ending his first appearance in Korea. In 6 1/3 innings, he threw 88 pitches, allowing five hits, walking four and striking out 10. He pitched with a consistency we haven’t seen from Medina and had all the makings of a winning pitcher in his debut. Threw 43 pitches, nearly half of them up to 147 mph, and displayed a wide variety of pitches, including 20 sliders, 12 cutters, six curves, five changeups, and two two-seamers.
His pitching motion, especially with runners on first and second base, is something that could be appealing to other teams. Still, he pitched well with good command. Medina’s replacement was successful.