After narrowly missing out on a perfect game in his previous start, LG Twins foreign pitcher Casey Kelly bounced back in his final outing of the first half.
Kelly started against the Kiwoom Heroes at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Feb. 2 and allowed one run on seven hits over six innings. He walked one and struck out four.
Kelly took a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning and needed five wins to earn his fifth win of the season, but the bullpen allowed the tying run to score in the eighth. He fell to 4-7 on the season. Lowered his ERA to 4.30 from 4.66.
Kelly tossed a nine-inning, one-hit shutout (4-0) against the Jamsil Samsung Lions on April 25. He was perfect without a hit or walk through the eighth inning before allowing a leadoff single to Yoon Jeong-bin in the ninth, ending the first perfect game in KBO history. It was the best pitching performance of Kelly’s career in Korea, where he has played for LG since 2019.
Kelly also pitched well in the second inning. With one out in the bottom of the second inning, Kim Jae-hyun singled and Kim Tae-jin walked to load the bases. Jang Jae-young flied out to right field. Kelly gave up a leadoff single to Kiwoom Lee. He then struck out Ronnie Dawson for the second out to put out the fire.
In the bottom of the third, Kelly gave up a leadoff triple to Sung-Moon Song over the center field fence, but retired the next batter on an infield fly ball and a strikeout. After leaving runners on base in the fourth and fifth innings, Kelly retired the side in order in the sixth inning for her first triple of the day.
Kelly’s total pitch count for the day was 96, with his fastball 19사이트 reaching up to 148 mph. In addition to his four-seam fastball (44), he threw a curveball (19), slider (17), changeup (13), and forkball (2).
Kelly has been in a survival battle with Detrick Enns since May. LG has been playing the foreign pitcher’s replacement card since May. LG manager Yoon Kyung-yup gave an ultimatum, saying, “I think we have to replace one of them.” LG general manager Cha Myung-seok even traveled to the United States to inspect the market for foreign pitchers. Coincidentally, after LG’s aggressive move, both pitchers were completely transformed.
Through May, Kelly’s 5.60 ERA ranked last among the 22 pitchers who pitched in regulation innings. However, his ERA improved to 2.91 in June, and he was effective in his first start of July and last start of the first half.
Manager Yoon Kyung-yup had earlier decided to delay the decision to replace the foreign pitcher for another month, until the end of July. Kelly didn’t get to five wins on the day, but he proved his ‘viability’ once again.