NC won a thrilling 4-3 victory with Matthew Davidson’s finishing hit in the bottom of the ninth inning when it was 3-3 at the opening home game against the Doosan Bears in the 2024 KBO League regular season at NC Park in Changwon on the 23rd.
Doosan was dominant up until early in the game. Following achieving 20 wins in 2020, Doosan showed good pitching by Raul Alcantara, who had been an ace even after returning to Doosan last year, allowing no runs in six innings. While Alcantara was showing good pitching, infielder Park Joon-young scored the first two RBIs with a triple to left-center in the top of the second inning.
However, something unexpected happened. Alcantara threw 66 pitches and suddenly replaced rookie Kim Taek-yeon in the seventh inning. The reason was muscle pain in his right thigh. To this end, Doosan already put Kim Taek-yeon on the mound, who will play the role of must-winner through performances in practice matches, exhibition matches, and showdowns with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Major League Baseball (MLB).
NC, however, gave rookie Kim Taek-yeon a spiciness. NC started off with a double off the first batter Son A-seop in the seventh inning, and instantly created a bases-loaded opportunity with no outs. Afterwards, Kim Sung-wook grounded out to an infield grounder, and Kim Joo-won walked off wavering Kim Taek-yeon to tie the game.
Doosan also hit back. Yang Eui-ji doubled to regain the lead in the top of the eighth inning, but NC immediately brought the game to square one with Kwon Hee-dong’s solo homer to the left in the bottom of the eighth inning.
In the end, NC laughed at the end. With three outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, NC created a two-out full base opportunity, and new foreign hitter Davidson capitalized on the opportunity. He had a walk-off hit to give NC a final win.
There was also a real record. Closing pitcher Lee Yong-chan took the mound as relief pitcher at the top of the ninth inning with two outs and a runner on the first base. However, he pitched one-third of the innings as he held the runner in check before throwing even one pitch. As NC turned the game around in the ninth inning, it became the winning pitcher.
Thus, Lee Yong-chan became the first 0-ball winning pitcher to appear in the KBO League since its launch in 1982. There have been a total of 24 winning pitchers in the history of one ball, but Lee Yong-chan is the first to pitch “0.”
BY: 안전 토토사이트