Choi Won-tae fought hard, but he could not prevent the 4th consecutive defeat of his team, Kiwoom Heroes.
Choi Won-tae started the home game against the Lotte Giants in the 2023 professional baseball KBO League held at Gocheok Sky Dome in Guro-gu, Seoul on the 27th.
The atmosphere in Kiwoom was not good until this game. From Suwon KT Wiz match (1-4) on the 24th to Gocheok Lotte match (0-2) the previous day (26th), they were all lost and fell into a three-game losing streak.
If they gave up even the game on this day, it could have entered a worse flow. However, even at such a stressful moment, Choi Won-tae, who got on the mound, showed good pitching.
From the beginning of the game, Choi Won-tae showed off his good condition. In the beginning of the first inning, he struck out Min-seok Kim and Seung-wook Park in quick succession, and Joon-woo Jeon threw a fly to the right field, starting the game happily with a three-way strike. In the beginning of the second inning, after tying Ahn Chi-hong and Ko Seung-min with strikeouts and knock-outs, Noh Jin-hyeok got a left-handed hit, but he induced Han Dong-hee to center fielder’s fly and finished the inning.
The fighting continued in the top of the third inning. After treating Yoo Kang-nam as a ground ball to second baseman, he gave Ahn Kwon-soo an infield hit to second baseman, but finished the inning with three batters by blocking Kim Min-seok with a double hit by pitcher.
In the beginning of the 4th inning, the crisis management ability was outstanding. After getting a right-handed hit by lead batter Park Seung-wook, he even allowed second base to be stolen. Jun-Woo Jeon and Chi-Hong Ahn caught them with a strikeout and a fly in right field, respectively, but Ko Seung-Min at bat committed a wild throw and a walk, and was driven to 2nd, 1st and 3rd base. But it didn’t collapse. He led Noh Jin-hyeok to a second baseman grounder in one pitch and did not concede.
In the beginning of the 5th inning, Choi Won-tae found stability again. He induced Han Dong-hee (center fielder fly), Yoo Kang-nam (first baseman foul fly), and Ahn Kwon-soo (pitcher grounder) all into a behemoth.
Choi Won-tae, who was on the mound in the top of the 6th inning, struck out lead batter Kim Min-seok. Afterwards, he allowed Park Seung-wook to walk and steal second base, but completed his mission that day by blocking Jeon Jun-woo (2nd baseman grounder) and An Chi-hong (3rd baseman grounder) in turn.
The final score was 6 innings, 3 hits, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts, no runs. He threw a total of 87 pitches and his highest velocity was measured at 149 km.안전놀이터
However, Choi Won-tae could not laugh at all this hard fight. This was because Kiwoom lost 5-6 as bullpens such as Kim Jae-woong (0.1 innings, 4 hits, 4 runs) and Kim Dong-hyuk (0.1 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs) gave up 6 runs only in the beginning of the 7th inning. In the midst of regret, he promised to harvest 4 wins (3 losses) in the next season.