In the bottom of the fifth inning, he gave up a walk with two outs and one out count left. The number of pitches has already surpassed the number of individual pitches in one game. Pitcher coach Seo Jae-eung’s hand on the mound wrapped around Kim Jae-yeol’s waist.
Kim Jae-yeol, who hurriedly took the mound and blocked four innings with a minimum run when Kim Gun-guk, a starter with two outs, was sent off with a two-seam headshot in the bottom of the first inning. Kim Jae-yeol smiled with overwhelming emotion when coach Seo Jae-eung said, “Thank you.”
The KIA Tigers won 6-2 in an away game against the KT Wiz at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on the 7th. KIA, which has won three consecutive games, has 33 wins, one draw and 38 losses (0.4648 winning rate), erasing the gap with KT (34 wins, 2 draws, 39 losses, 0.4658). The team’s performance, which fell to eighth place, also led to a rebound.
With the start of the game, KIA faced a sudden bad news of the departure of the starting pitcher. After two outs in the bottom of the first inning, Kim Gun-guk’s two-seam fastball brushed KT Park Byung-ho’s helmet and was ordered to leave the headshot automatically. It was fortunate that Park Byung-ho was not seriously injured, but the KIA bench was greatly embarrassed by the sudden bad news.
Kim Jae-yeol, who hurriedly warmed up from the bullpen, took the mound. Kim Jae-yeol wore Lotte’s uniform in the seventh round of the second rookie draft in 2014, but was released after three years without making his debut in the first division. Since then, while serving in the military in the defense industry, he has built up his body at a nearby university’s baseball team training ground, playing in social baseball and not letting go of the string of baseball. At this time, KIA, interested in the power of the ball that Kim Jae-yeol showed on the YouTube channel, reached out and wore a professional uniform again in 2020. It’s a Tigers uniform, not a Giants.
Kim Jae-yeol, whose life is a drama, is always desperate. Kim Jae-yeol has also been in his fourth year since debuting in the first division. He had a powerful fastball up to 150km and a large curve, but he often showed disappointment in his control of the ball. Kim Jae-yeol, who started this season in the second division, was called up to the first division in June and took the mound in three games until the match.
Kim Jae-yeol’s pitching on this day was impressive. He blocked KT’s batters with only two runs in four innings, setting the stage for KIA’s victory. At the bottom of the second inning, KIA second baseman Kim Kyu-sung’s mistake faced a crisis of one out and runners on first and second base, but he finished the inning by giving up only one run.
In the third inning, Hwang Jae-kyun’s 토토 가입머니 double and Park Byung-ho’s hit faced a crisis of first and third base with no outs. However, Kim Jae-yeol gave up only one point with Bae Jung-dae’s sacrifice fly and did not allow a turnaround. Kim Jae-yeol, who pitched hard with two outs in the fifth inning, gave up a walk to Jang Sung-woo and came down the mound with warm encouragement from coach Seo Jae-eung. He pitched 80 pitches in four innings with a maximum speed of 148 kilometers.
Following Kim Jae-yeol’s all-out pitching, Yoon Joong-hyun, Lim Ki-young, Choi Ji-min, and Jeon Sang-hyun took the mound one after another to block KT’s batters without losing a point.
When pitchers blocked KT’s batters, batters finally cheered up. Kim Do-young cut the tape. In the top of the eighth inning, Kim Do-young made a surprise bunt toward third base and ran as fast as he could to make a hit. Third baseman Hwang Jae-kyun’s throw missed slightly, and Kim Do-young stepped on the first base to avoid Park Byung-ho’s tag. Despite KT’s threatening check, Kim Do-young boldly attempted to steal second base and succeeded. Solver Choi Hyung-woo then pushed Son Dong-hyun’s fastball after a full count match to create a timely hit that fell in front of the left fielder. Before the ball fell to the ground, Kim Do-young had already passed third base and headed home and scored the winning goal with a 3-2 lead. Kim Do-young tied the game with a timely two-run hit over the right fielder’s height in the top of the ninth inning with two outs and runners on first and third bases.
At the bottom of the ninth inning, when Jeon Sang-hyun handled Kim Min-hyuk with a left fielder fly, Kim Jae-yeol, who was watching from the dugout, was moved by looking far away. Choi Ji-min became the winning pitcher of the day, but Kim Jae-yeol finally won a “one win in his heart” that was more impressive than anyone else.
In a victory interview after the game, Kim Jae-yeol said, “When I left, this place looked very shiny. Many people helped me until I came back and made a comeback. I’m still running. I want to help the team more,” he said.