KIA Tigers pitcher Adonis Medina achieved his first win of the season with 8 scoreless innings and perfect pitches. It was an overwhelming pitch that reminded me of former team ace Hector Noesi.
Medina started against the Gwangju NC Dinos on April 26 and contributed to the team’s 6-0 victory with 6 hits, 6 strikeouts and 3 walks without a run in 8 innings.
KIA coach Kim Jong-guk met with reporters before the game and said, “We need to control the two-seam fastball, which is the main weapon, more elaborately. I hope you don’t think too easily of the other batters and solve them one by one. I hope you can digest at least 5 innings in today’s game.”
Medina got off to a clean start in the first inning with a triple strike. At the beginning of the second inning, he was shaken after being hit by Son A-seop and Cheon Jae-hwan in a row, but Medina prevented a run by turning the subsequent batters into a safe first and second base crisis with a strikeout and strikeout.
The KIA lineup also gave strength to Medina’s shoulders. At the end of the second inning, where the score was 0-0, KIA took the lead with Socrates’ bunt hit and Hwang Dae-in’s 1st and 2nd base opportunities, with Joo Hyo-sang’s 1 RBI, preemptive and timely hit.
In the following opportunities for one company, first and second base, Kim Kyu-seong entered the plate. Kim Gyu-seong hit a 131km/h forkball on the 5th pitch with Song Myeong-ki, the starting pitcher, and the ball count 2B-2S, and hit a 3-run home run with a distance of 110m. Kim Kyu-sung’s first home run of the season.
KIA made an additional run with Socrates’ sacrifice fly ball at the end of the 3rd inning and Byun Woo-hyuk’s 1 RBI timely hit from the 1st and 3rd base opportunity at the end of the 5th inning.
In the meantime, Medina continued its good fight. Medina, who cruised without a major crisis despite being allowed to go on base sporadically, induced Han Seok-hyun to double-stroke at the first base with one company in the top of the 5th inning, meeting the requirements for the first win of the season.
On the mound in the top of the 6th inning, Medina gave Park Se-hyeok a walk after one run, and Son Ah-seop hit with second out and first base. However, Medina even achieved a quality start by catching Cheon Jae-hwan as a floating ball in right field in the 2nd, 1st and 2nd base situation.
Medina, who deleted the top of the 7th inning with two strikeouts, got on the mound in the top of the 8th inning and ended the inning including two strikeouts. It was his first scoreless pitch of the season, along with 8 innings, his most innings of the season. With a maximum velocity of 148 km/h, two-seam fastballs (58), cutters (23), sliders (10), and changeups (7), he completely overpowered the NC lineup.
After the game, coach Kim Jong-guk said, “Medina played the role of starting pitcher very well. Looking forward to the picture that will develop further with this victory. Today, we played a good game in every way. I hope you will continue this trend tomorrow as well.”
After the match, Medina was caught by her teammates and was baptized with water. Medina, who appeared in front of the reporters wet and wet, said, “I was most upset with myself because the last game didn’t work out the way I wanted. I was upset, but I persevered with the support and encouragement of my family. After he won, he was baptized with water, but there was nothing unpleasant about it. It was like this when I won my first win in another league. It felt good to get hit by the water,” he said with a smile.
What was the difference between the last three appearances? Medina said: “Today the command itself worked out just the way I wanted it to. At the beginning of the game, I tried with the catcher to see which pitch worked well. It was different from the last appearance that the game was played mainly with pitches that went well. It was also up to him to pay little attention to runners and focus on dealing with batters. It was good to focus on command and hitting, not restraint.”ㅋㅋㅋ벳
Medina continued, “I thought Korean batters were good at hitting balls coming from the outside. Originally, my strength was the hitter’s body ball, but I felt that Korean referees did not catch the body ball well. So it seems like you had a lot of difficulties in the beginning. Today’s game became a special opportunity, so I feel like it will work out well in the future.”