Connor Seabold, a foreign pitcher of the Samsung Lions who is the “Moustache Ace of the Lionesses,” achieved his first shutout victory since his debut in the KBO League. It was not a lucky pitch. Connor completely overwhelmed the opponent’s batters, breaking the record of most strikeouts in a game with 11 strikeouts. Connor had enough scoring support. 메이저놀이터
Connor started against the Gocheok Kiwoom Heroes on August 27 and contributed to his team’s 1-0 victory with 113 pitches, 3 hits, 11 strikeouts, and 1 walk in 9 innings.
At the end of the first inning, the corner started with a clean three-way exit, dealing with three consecutive hits with only 10 pitches.
Connor, who had three strikeouts and two strikeouts in consecutive innings in the bottom of the second inning, allowed leadoff hitter Lim Byung-wook to get on base for the first time in the bottom of the third inning due to an infield hit in front of the second baseman. Since then, he has given up sacrifice bunt and throw balls, facing a crisis of one out and runners on the first and second bases.
Corner took a breather by striking out the follow-up hitter Lee Ju-hyung, and then induced Kim Hye-sung to ground out to second base to eventually prevent the run.
The corner, which passed the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings without much crisis, met the requirement for 10 wins of the season with Yoon Jung-bin’s timely RBI in the top of the sixth inning.
Connor took the mound in the bottom of the sixth inning and gave up a bunt hit to leadoff hitter Lee Ju-hyeong. However, Connor made a quality start by catching Kim Hye-sung with a foul fly ball to the third baseman and striking out Song Sung-moon and Choi Joo-hwan in succession.
Connor had three outs and three outs in consecutive innings within 100 pitches in the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings. Samsung’s bench put Connor, not closer Kim Jae-yoon, on the mound in the bottom of the ninth inning even though Connor met the save requirements with no additional runs.
Corner treated Kim Hye-sung with a fly ball to second base on two pitches in the bottom of the ninth inning, and induced Song to ground out to shortstop, which was on the verge of his first shutout victory since his debut in the KBO League. Corner then led Choi Joo-hwan to a fly ball to right field after a game of seven pitches, ending his shutout.
Corner’s shutout was the first in 836 days since Buchanan’s shutout at the Daegu Doosan Bears on May 15, 2022. Corner also set a new record for the most strikeouts in a single game with 11 strikeouts. The previous record was 10 strikeouts recorded at the match against the Changwon NC Dinos on June 14.
Connor met with reporters after the game and said, “I remember the last shutout period as 2018, and I’m really happy and glad that I got a shutout in a special sense. Before the start of the ninth inning, the coach asked me about my condition and if I wanted to go out again. I took the mound in the ninth inning with the mindset that I should give it a try at a rare opportunity,” explaining the background of the ninth inning first.
Connor continued, “The rest of the game starts from the weekend, so rest days can occur in the middle. Rather than putting a cap on the number of pitches, I decided to finish the game even if I exceeded 100 pitches. With the shutout, achieving 10 wins in this season is such good news. The record of victory is all the more meaningful because there are some areas where it is difficult for me to control.”
Connor completely overwhelmed Kiwoom’s batters with 11 strikeouts. Connor, who was sensitive to the mound, expressed great satisfaction to the Gocheok mound.
Connor said, “Location and ball control went well, resulting in a lot of strikeouts. I put in the fastball first, and saw the batters’ reactions, adding a breaking ball. From the second at-bat, I got a good result by mixing the cutter and the sweeper properly,” adding, “The Gocheok Mound is based on the Major League standard, so I’m glad that it feels higher than other Korean pitches. I think that’s why I got a good pitch.”
Finally, Connor said, “If you look at the opponent’s lineup, they are really strong hitters from No. 1 to No. 5, and I think they played well with the pitching plan they set before the game with aggressive pitching. I was able to lead the game more comfortably as it coincided with the fast game of the opponent’s lineup,” and added, “I want to thank catcher Lee Byung-hun for his hard work today, Yoon Jung-bin for hitting the final hit, and all my field teammates for silently helping me defend from behind.”