LG Twins’ Lee Jung-yong has earned a spot in the starting lineup.

Lee started against the Kia Tigers of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at KIA Champions Field in Gwangju on Monday, allowing two hits and one walk while striking out six over five innings. It was his first career start win.

Lee kept the KIA bats at bay without much trouble. With one out in the second inning, he gave up a walk to Choi Hyung-woo, and Socrates Brito’s sacrifice bunt put two runners in scoring position. He then got Lee Woo-sung to ground out to second base to end the inning.

Initially, Lee planned to switch back to the bullpen. The team acquired Choi Won-tae from the Kiwoom Heroes in a trade to form a four-man starting rotation of Casey Kelly, Adam Plutko, Chan-kyu Lim, and Won-tae Choi. Yeom had planned to use Lee as a long-relief pitcher, but Lee’s good performance changed Yeom’s mind.

Yoon said, “(Lee) Jung-yong will be a starter, and we will go with a five-star system for the time being. It’s more important to be a starting pitcher than to have a good bullpen,” he said, adding, “It’s a plus for the team to have a more stable starting pitcher.”

Lee’s success as a starter is due to his ability to throw a menacing fork. He trained with LG pitching coaches Kim Kyung-tae and Kim Kwang-sam, and it paid off on the second day against the Jamsil Kiwoom Heroes.

Lee said, “My feel has improved since the last game. I’m using it well. ”I was originally a bullpen pitcher, so I threw a fastball-oriented pattern, but now that I can throw breaking balls, I think the opposing hitters are thinking more, so I think the results are good,” he said.

Manager Yoon Kyung-yup said, “I have to praise him (Lee) and I have to praise the pitching coaches. The coaches worked very hard in a short period of time. “Even when he was a bullpen pitcher, he was throwing a lot of pitches and his strikeout rate dropped, but his pitch count per inning went down and his strikeout rate went up. That’s huge.”

“The fork changed the way hitters think. ”Hitters are more aggressive on the first pitch because you’re throwing them a fork in 0B2S,” he said. “They’re more aggressive in the second at-bat after they’ve gone around the bases. They think the fork is tricky to hit, so they try to attack it before it’s thrown. Jung Yong-i has become a pitcher who has stepped up to the next level.”메이저사이트

LG begins a three-game weekend series against the Kiwoom Heroes at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on Nov. 11. Kelly, Lim Chan-kyu, and Choi Won-tae will start the series. The series will continue on the 15th against the Samsung Lions in Daegu. Plutko will pitch the first game. Lee Jung-yong will start the 16th game.