Texas Rangers’ “second-generation Korean-American” pitcher Dane Dunning, 29, has reached the 10-win plateau in a season for the first time in his major league career.

Dunning took the mound against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Wednesday (June 12). Dunning got the quality start with six innings of six-hit ball, seven strikeouts, three walks, and three earned runs as Texas won 10-4 to earn his 10th win of the season.

Since earning his ninth win of the season on Aug. 3 against the Chicago White Sox (7⅔ innings, three runs on 11 hits with one strikeout and one walk), Dunning has gone six starts without a win and two losses. Dunning, who had suffered the most runs allowed in a single game in his big league debut in his previous outing on June 6 against the Houston Astros, giving up nine runs on 11 hits (three homers) in 5 1/3 innings with two walks and four strikeouts, bounced back to earn his ninth win in 40 days.

His seventh 10-win season was not without its challenges. Dunning, who took the mound with the pressure of a tight Fall League race on his shoulders, got out of the first inning with a triple play, but gave up a run in the second. With Texas up 1-0 in the bottom of the second, Dunning allowed a single and a walk to put runners on first and second. After giving up a leadoff single to Toronto’s Alejandro Kirkede, Dunn struck out Dalton Bashaw to get a breather, but gave up a walk to Kevin Kiermaier and a single to George Springer to make it 1-2. Dunning was hit by a sharp pitch to Bo Bissett with the bases loaded on the next two pitches, but was able to get out of the inning with a fly ball to center field.

When Texas tied the game in the top of the third on a solo home run by Evan Carter, Dunning was called upon. Dunn worked a strikeout-strikeout-flyout in the third and a groundout-strikeout-flyout in the fourth for his second straight shutout inning. Meanwhile, Texas took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth on an RBI single by Corey Seager.

Dunning ran into trouble again in the bottom of the fifth when he gave up a leadoff double to Kiermaier. Springer followed with a single to right and Keirmeier stole second, but Texas left fielder Evan Carter’s out-of-bounds laser throw got to him first and he was thrown out at home plate. With a little help from his defense, Dunning got Bissett to ground out and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to strike out to complete the win.

With Texas down 5-2 in the bottom of the sixth, Dunning took the mound again, but after giving up a leadoff single to Spencer Horwitz, he was hit by a pitch to load the bases. After getting Davis Schneider to fly out to right field and allowing the runner to advance to third, Dunning gave up a sacrifice fly to Cavan Biggio for his third run of the game, but he was unperturbed and got a groundout to end the inning.

Behind Dunning, Texas put an end to Toronto’s late rally with a five-run seventh inning to win 10-4 and extend its winning streak to three games. Texas, which improved to 79-64 (.552 winning percentage) on the season, maintained its hold on the American League wild-card spot. With the loss, Toronto moved to 80-64 (.556 winning percentage) and trailed Texas by 0.5 games.

Dunning, meanwhile, is well known to Korean fans as the son of Korean mother Misu Dunning (Korean name Jung Mi-soo) and American father John Dunning. Drafted by the Washington Nationals with the 29th overall pick in the first round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft, Dunning made his major league debut with the White Sox in 2020 and has been playing for Texas since 2021.스포츠토토

After showing promise with a 5-10 record with a 4.51 ERA in 27 games (25 starts) in 2021 and a 4-8 record with a 4.46 ERA in 29 games (29 starts) in 2022, Dunning’s season was cut short last September due to right hip surgery. Dunning had been positive about joining the South Korean national team ahead of the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), but unfortunately, the injury derailed his plans. After a successful rehabilitation, Dunning has put the disappointment of missing the WBC behind him and is enjoying a career-high season in his fourth year in the big leagues.