LG Twins foreign ace Casey Kelly wasn’t smiling in his 13th start of the season.
Kelly took the mound against the Hanwha Eagles of the 2023 KBO Baseball League at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon on Nov. 11.먹튀검증
Kelly, who has been with LG since the 2019 season, is a right-hander with a powerful fastball and a variety of pitches, including a curve, slider, and changeup. In 114 career KBO games (697 innings) through last year, he posted a 58-31 record with a 2.89 ERA, and in 2022, he won 16 games and was named the league’s Most Valuable Player.
LG’s Kelly did not go the distance against Daejeon’s Hanwha on Nov. 11. Photo by Kim Jae-hyun
After falling into a bit of a slump earlier this year, Kelly has rebounded perfectly of late. In all five of his starts in May, he achieved a quality start (six innings or less), and in his most recent outing against Hanwha, he pitched five innings of five-hit ball with three walks and seven strikeouts against the Gochuk Kiwoom Heroes (9-1 LG). His season record was 6-3 with a 4.07 ERA.
However, Kelly struggled with his velocity today and was unable to go the distance. However, the team’s decision to turn the ball over to the next pitcher with an early lead had no bearing on the outcome of the game.
Kelly took the mound in the top of the first inning with four runs on the board, but things didn’t go well from there. After giving up a walk to Lee Jin-young, Kim Tae-yeon singled to left to put runners on first and second with no outs. She then gave up a two-run double to Noh Si-hwan to left-center field.
The crisis continued. Chae Eun-sung walked and Kim In-hwan singled to right to load the bases. Jung then gave up a walk to Eun-won Chung, and Moon Hyun-bin and Park Sang-eon gave up a single to right and a sacrifice fly to right field, respectively. It was a consolation that Lee Do-yoon (strikeout) and Lee Jin-young (straight hit to shortstop) were retired without further damage.
The LG bats came alive again in the top of the second inning, scoring a whopping six runs. Kelly seemed to rebound in the bottom of the inning, retiring Kim Tae-yeon and Noh Si-hwan on a grounder to shortstop and a fly to right field.
But it was all downhill from there. She gave up a single to Chae Eun-sung and a walk to Kim In-hwan to put runners on first and second. LG’s bench immediately switched to right-hander Yoo Young-chan. Yoo gave up a home run to Kelly’s successor, Chae Eun-sung, bringing Kelly’s total to six runs.
His final line was 1.2 innings, four hits, five walks, one strikeout, and six runs. He threw 54 pitches, and his fastball was measured up to 149 kilometers.