The Park Se-woong (28-Lotte Giants) we knew is finally back. The Lotte Giants completed a sweep behind Park Se-woong’s seven-inning performance.

Lotte won its 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League home game against the NC Dinos 11-1 at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on May 25. With the win, Lotte finished the “Nakdong River Derby” against NC with a 2-1 record.메이저사이트

Lotte started Park Se-woong, who had appeared in seven games this season with a 1-1 record and a 4.11 ERA. It may seem like an ordinary performance, but there were many twists and turns in the story.

After pitching six innings with a zero ERA at the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in March, Park had a rough start to the season. In four games in April, he pitched 19⅓ innings with no wins and a 5.12 ERA. He never had a quality start (6+ innings pitched, 3 earned runs or less) and twice failed to complete five innings.

Park had a career April ERA of 2.93 from 2015 to last year after joining Lotte, which was significantly better than his career average (4.75) over the same period. This year’s struggles were unfamiliar for a pitcher who started the season so well. “I’ve never had such a bad start to a season before, so it was hard and a little embarrassing,” he said.

Lotte’s Park Se-woong plays against Sasik SSG on April 19.
After a dismal April, Park showed signs of life. After giving up one run on five hits and two walks in five innings against KT Suwon on May 12, he made his first quality start of the season against Sasik SSG on May 19 (six innings, six hits, three walks, six strikeouts, and one run) to earn a win for Masugirl.

The manager also expressed hope for Park’s resurgence. Before the 25th game, Lotte manager Larry Sutton (53) said, “Park Se-woong forgot his offensive instincts a little bit at the beginning of the season, but he’s been finding them lately,” adding, “He’s been pitching for strikes and playing to his strengths offensively.”

As if to prove his point, Park continued his aggressive pitching and neutralized the opposing bats. After retiring the first eight batters in a row to start the game, Park retired the next nine batters in a row, even after being hit by Do Tae-hoon in the top of the third.

Meanwhile, the bats continued to provide cool scoring support. After scoring two runs in the first inning, Lotte added another run with a double steal in the second. Then, in the third inning, they scored five runs, including a push double by Ko Seung-min and an RBI double by Lee Jung-geun, to take the lead for good.

Park Se-woong, who was cruising, put runners in scoring position for the first time in the game in the bottom of the sixth after a shortstop error and a Park Min-woo single. But he didn’t falter, getting the final out and retiring the next four batters in the seventh inning.

Park, who was replaced by Choi in the eighth, pitched seven innings of two-hit ball with one walk and eight strikeouts to earn his second win of the season. It was his first no-hitter of the season, and he also set new records for most innings pitched and most strikeouts. He lowered his ERA to 3.43.

The details of Park’s outing were perfect. He threw 74 of his 105 pitches for strikes and was very aggressive with a strike rate of over 70% (70.5%). His fastball reached up to 150 kilometers per hour, and his secondary pitch, a slider, reached up to 142 kilometers per hour.

This season is a big one for Park. It’s the first season of the five-year, 9 billion won contract he signed last year, and it’s also the first time he’ll be eligible for selection for the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. Despite some early struggles, Park is finding his stride.