It looked like he was going to fall apart, but he didn’t.
Kiwoom Heroes’ new foreign pitcher Ian McKinney (29) struggled in his debut. He made his first appearance against the Doosan Bears on May 25 and gave up two runs in four innings. He gave up two runs on five hits and three walks. Usually, hitters struggle when facing an unfamiliar pitcher, but this game showed a different picture온라인카지노.
It was a shaky start. The leadoff hitter, Heo Kyung-min, was hit by a straight ball. He then gave up a double to Jung Soo-bin to put runners on first and second. He then gave up a single to Yang Ji, and another to Kim Jae-hwan to put runners on first and third. Two runs scored with one out. He then walked Kang Seung-ho in the sixth to load the bases, but got Kim Jae-ho to ground out to end the inning. He threw 35 pitches in the first inning. It looked precarious.
He retired the leadoff hitter in the second, third, and fourth innings. After giving up a hit in the second, he walked the next three batters. In the top of the third, he gave up an infield single to Yang Sung-hwan and a stolen base. He retired the next three batters without a hit. In the top of the fourth inning, a walk and a wild pitch put runners on second and third without further damage. The Doosan hitters were in a hurry, and they got lucky.
Out of 82 pitches, only 48 were strikes, or 58.5%. Part of this was due to the fact that there were a lot of walks before the first pitch, but the difference between balls and strikes was huge. His fastball velocity was also unimpressive. It topped out at 145 mph and averaged 142 mph. In addition to his fastball (33 pitches), he threw a changeup (22), cutter (14), and curve (13). It’s not an overpowering pitch, nor is it a tricky pitch.
McKinney is the replacement for Eric Yokish, who has been the ace for the past five years. He’s bound to get some attention. With 56 wins (36 losses – 2.85 ERA) in 130 games, McKinney has to fill the void left by Yokishi, but his first start came with a question mark.
Expectations weren’t exactly high. He’s never pitched in the majors and has a 49-31 record with a 3.59 ERA in 176 minor league games. This year, he pitched in eight games in the American Independent League, totaling 46⅔ innings. He went 4-1 with a 4.24 ERA.
“We didn’t have any video footage of him before we decided to sign him, so we didn’t look at him enough,” said manager Hong Won-ki before his first start on the 25th.
