Baseball’s NC Dinos Kyle Hart turned in his best pitching performance of the season in Korea, picking up his third win of the season.
Hart started the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League regular-season game against the Lotte Giants at NC Park in Changwon on Saturday and pitched a seven-inning, 100-pitch, four-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts and no walks to lead the team to a 4-0 victory.
Hart was at his best that day, throwing 34 four-seamers that topped out at 149 mph, 15 two-seamers that topped out at 150 mph, 24 changeups, 21 sliders, and six cutters. It was the first time he pitched more than seven innings without allowing a run. It was his second game with double-digit strikeouts, following a five-inning, four-run, 10-strikeout performance against LG Electronics on April 2.
Hart gave up hits in both the first and second innings, most notably back-to-back singles to Son Ho-young and Kim Min-sung in the second to put runners on first and third with no outs, but he struck out Han Dong-hee and Park Seung-wook and got Son Sung-bin to fly out to right field to end the threat. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the inning, Reyes struck out the side to end the inning.
Hart didn’t leave a single batter alive until the seventh inning. He continued his hitting streak of 13 consecutive batters and silenced the Lotte bats. He bounced back from a five-inning, six-hit (one homer), one walk, three strikeout, six-run (four earned) outing against KIA on April 20.
After the game, Hart said, “I’m happy with my performance today. I’m happy that I was able to continue pitching aggressively. I believed in myself and trusted my catcher, Kim Hyung-joon, and that led to a good result.” ”I didn’t focus on the opposing hitters, but I made changes based on my disappointment in the last game. In the last game against KIA, I didn’t throw aggressively. But rather than saying that I didn’t pitch well, I would say that I should praise the Kia batters because they were doing well,” he reflected.
Hart wasn’t the only LOTTE starter to have a strong outing. He gave up two solo home runs in the third and fourth innings, but was able to keep things in check the rest of the way. Barnes also pitched six innings, allowing two runs on five hits (two homers) with four walks and 11 strikeouts.
Hart was encouraged by Barnes’ performance and focused more. “I have a lot of respect for him because he pitched so well,” Hart said. “When he struck out all three of our batters in the first inning, I knew I had to step it up for my team.”
“I knew it was going to be a big inning,” he said of overcoming 카지노사이트 runners on first and third. But in a clutch situation, you have to trust yourself and trust the batters,” he said, emphasizing that he was able to get out of the situation with faith.
Castano and Hart are two of NC’s new foreign pitchers this year. They will have to fill the void left by Eric Pedroia (Chicago White Sox), who won 20 games last year and was named league MVP. “It’s natural to be compared to Pedi because he was so good. I want to pitch like him, but I want to win in my own way,” said Hart.
“Hart’s perfect pitching in the seventh inning with no walks and no hits, and the good pitching of Han Jae-seung and Lee Yong-chan in the later innings were the factors in the team’s victory,” said manager Kang Myung-hwon. “In the batting order, Kim Hyung-joon and Davidson’s home runs and Park Gun-woo’s RBI double in the eighth inning were the decisive moments in the victory. We would like to thank our fans for their support today, and we will be ready to continue our winning streak heading into the weekend.”