NC Dinos right-hander Lee Yong-jun, born in 2002, showed good pitching in his fifth start of the season. However, the third win of the season was postponed to the next opportunity because it did not receive support for scoring.
Lee Yong-jun started in an away game against Kiwoom Heroes in the 2023 professional baseball KBO League held at Gocheok Sky Dome in Guro-gu, Seoul on the 12th and threw 103 balls, blocking 5.2 innings with 8 hits, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts and 2 runs.
Lee Yong-jun is one of NC’s hit products this season. He debuted as a professional in 2021 and did not win a win until last year, but before this Kiwoom match, he had played in 5 games (4 starts) and had 2 wins and an average ERA of 1.14.
On this day, he also showed his true worth. Even though his opponent starting pitcher was Ace Ahn Woo-jin, who represents the KBO League, he did not waver and calmly continued his pitching. However, since the team came down the mound with a 1-2 scoreline, if NC could not tie the score and lost, Lee Yong-jun would take the first loss.
The beginning was not good. In the bottom of the first inning, he was hit by a left-handed hit by lead batter Lee Jung-hoo. Then, Park Chan-hyuk drew a second baseman grounder, but only Lee Jung-hoo, who was rushing to second base, was out. Afterwards, Lee Yong-jun, who allowed Kim Hye-seong to hit a double and was driven to 1 out, 2nd and 3rd base, dedicated a sacrifice fly to center field to Edison Russell, recording the first run. Fortunately, Lee Won-seok struck out and did not allow any additional runs.
He failed to avoid a run even in the bottom of the second inning. Leading batter Kim Hwi-jip was struck out, but he dedicated a double to left field to Lim Ji-yeol, and Park Joon-tae hit a heavy hit at the right time. But he didn’t break down. The inning ended with Kim Dong-heon and Lee Jung-hoo being grounded by the shortstop and fly by the right fielder.
The 3rd inning was neat. Park Chan-hyeok (strikeout) and Kim Hye-seong (center fielder fly) were put to sleep one after another. The follow-up hitter, Russell, was allowed a left-handed hit, but Lee Won-seok was blocked with a second baseman grounder. In the bottom of the 4th inning, Kim Hui-jip (third baseman grounder), Lim Ji-yeol (strikeout), and Park Joon-tae (strikeout) were tied in succession to make his first tripartite inning.
In the bottom of the 5th, it slowed down again. Although Kim Dong-heon and Lee Jung-hoo were treated with second baseman fly and left field fly, Park Chan-hyeok and Kim Hye-seong were hit consecutively, and Russell also contributed a walk 메이저놀이터 and was driven to the second out with full bases. But he didn’t waver any longer. He completed his mission that day by blocking Lee Won-seok with a shortstop ground ball.
Even in the bottom of the 6th inning, Lee Yong-jun, who was on the mound, led Kim Hwi-jip and Lim Ji-yeol to a strikeout and shortstop ground ball, respectively. Following a heavy hit by Park Joon-tae, he led Kim Dong-heon to the infield fly, but shortstop Kim Joo-won collided with Park Jun-tae, who arrived at second base, and was caught in the misfortune of not being able to catch the ball. The official record remains as a shortstop catch error.
Lee Yong-jun’s number of pitches reached 103, and left-handed hitter Lee Jung-hoo was the follow-up hitter. In the end, the NC bench replaced the pitcher with left-hander Kim Young-gyu. Kim Yeong-gyu did not give up a home to the successor runner, and Lee Yong-jun’s earned runs did not increase.
