Won-Tae Choi’s ‘5 innings, 2 runs’ reunited with his home team, 8 wins needed
Choi Won-pyon (LG Twins) met for the first time after transferring and succeeded in meeting the 8-win requirement for the season against his former team, Kiwoom Heroes.
Choi Won-tae started the 2023 KBO League regular season match against Kiwoom held at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the 12th, recording 5 innings, 6 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts and 2 runs, and achieved the season 8 win requirement. I failed to 먹튀검증 digest the long innings because the Kiwoom lineup was persistent, but thanks to scoring and defensive support, my mission was completed. His fastball reached a maximum of 147km/h, and his two-seam recorded a maximum of 146km/h.
Choi Won-tae moved to LG through a large trade on July 29th. In order to get him who can digest up to the first starter in Korea, LG gave away large field prospect Lee Joo-hyung, pitcher Kim Dong-gyu, and the first round of the 2024 rookie draft. The confrontation between LG and Kiwoom took place in three consecutive matches from the 1st to the 3rd immediately after the transfer, but Choi Won-tae’s start was delayed until the 12th. Manager Yeom Kyung-yeop explained that it was “courtesy for the traded player.”
The family team that I met again was not easy. As much as he had been with Choi Won-tae for a long time, he persistently harassed him. After Kiwoom had one out in the first inning, Kim Hye-seong went out due to a grounder error at shortstop and opened up the water. Then, Ronnie Dawson hit a double, and Kim Hye-seong tried to score, but withdrew due to a tagout. However, Kiwoom’s attack did not end. Subsequent hitter Song Seong-moon attacked Choi Won-tae’s 4-ball 144km/h fastball, and took the lead from Choi Won-tae with a double in the right fielder.
Still, the support from the new team, LG, was reassuring. LG immediately tied the score with Hong Chang-ki’s hit and Kim Hyun-soo’s double in the first inning.
When the score was tied, Choi Won-tae also found stability. In the second inning, he struck out Lee Joo-hyung, who was his trade opponent. Lee Joo-hyung, whom he met as the lead batter in the second inning, threw a changeup, curveball, and slider without even a single fastball, and struck out a swing with a slider in the low zone. Then, against Lim Byung-wook, he played 5 pitches with only a breaking ball without a fastball, striking out two swings in a row.
Choi Won-tae, who finished the second inning with a three-way offense and the third inning with one hit and no runs, gave up a run again in the fourth inning. This time, he suffered from Kiwoom’s relentless blow. Kiwoom suffered two outs first, but Lee Joo-hyung, who met again, opened up an opportunity against Choi Won-tae with a hit. Subsequent hitter Lim Byeong-wook also did not get hit by Choi Won-tae’s breaking ball twice and connected the scoring opportunity with a walk. In the end, he gave up one point to Kiwoom’s persistent attack. Choi Won-tae allowed Kim Tae-jin a timely hit in the situation of 2nd 1st and 2nd base, and gave Kiwoom the lead again.
However, the LG batting line was more powerful, and Choi Won-tae kept the victory requirement with a pitch that matched the scoring support. At the end of the 4th inning, Oh Ji-Hwan’s timely double and Park Dong-Won’s sacrifice fly quickly regained the tie and lead.
The scoring support followed, and the only thing left to win was whether or not to digest 5 innings. It wasn’t easy either. He gave up an infield hit to Kim Hye-seong, the first batter in the 5th inning. The ball hit Choi Won-tae, and as it bounced in the infield, second baseman Shin Min-jae could not handle it. Choi Won-tae caught Ronnie Dawson, the follow-up hitter, but Kim Hye-seong harassed Choi Won-tae by stealing second base.
The victory requirement could have been blown away with one hit, but Choi Won-tae kept it. In the game with Dawson, Choi Won-tae, who struck out on a swing with a changeup as the deciding ball, recorded a floating ball for shortstop with 2 consecutive curves to the last batter, Kim Hwi-jip, and successfully completed 100 pitches and completed 5 innings.
As Choi Won-tae endured, the LG lineup also supported an additional point. At the end of the 5th inning, Austin Dean’s two-run gun exploded, and LG presented Choi Won-tae with ample scoring support after pitching ahead 5-2.
Choi Won-tae passed the mound to Ham Deok-joo in the 6th inning and finished pitching that day. As of the end of the 6th inning, the game is in progress with LG leading 5-2.