NC Dinos native left-hander Chang-mo Koo couldn’t help but smile.
Koo Chang-mo started in the home game against LG Twins in the 2023 Professional Baseball KBO League held at Changwon NC Park on the 3rd and pitched 107 balls in 5 innings, scoring 4 hits, 1 home run, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts and 2 runs. Coming off the mound with the team trailing 1-2, he will take the second loss (winless) of the season if NC loses without a tie.
Before this game, Gu Chang-mo had to swallow his regrets in the latest appearance against the KIA Tigers in Gwangju on the 27th of last month. Up to the 6th inning, not a single runner was on base, raising expectations for a perfect game, but in the 7th inning, starting with Kim Sun-bin’s miss hit, he gave up a walk and a hit in succession, and was beaten.
The final score was 6.2 innings, 4 hits, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts, and 5 runs. It was close to the great record, but unfortunately the achievement was canceled, so concerns were raised that there may be aftereffects of failing to achieve the great record ahead of this LG match.
Accordingly, NC coach Kang In-kwon, who met ahead of the home LG match (3-5 NC loss) on the 2nd, said, “(The failure to achieve a great record does not seem to have any particular effect on Koo Chang-mo). The pitching content is not bad. However, success does not follow. He also encouraged him, saying, “If you do it with a new mindset, the luck will follow.”
And Koo Chang-mo showed off a passable pitching as if to live up to the expectations of the command tower that day. However, he had difficulties managing the number of pitches and gave up a home run in the 5th inning, and the first win of the season was postponed to the next opportunity again.
Koo Chang-mo showed off his good condition at the beginning of the first inning. At the beginning of the first inning, Hong Chang-ki (strikeout), Moon Seong-joo (strikeout), and Kim Hyeon-soo (second baseman grounder) were put to rest one after another, and the game started happily with a three-way strike.
But the crisis came earlier than expected. In the top of the second inning, he struck out Austin Dean and Oh Ji-hwan in a row, but was hit by Moon Bo-kyung and Kim Min-seong, followed by a walk by Park Dong-won, and was driven to the bases with two outs. In the end, Koo Chang-mo allowed Hae-min Park to walk and took his first run. Hong Chang-ki was treated as a fly in right field and no additional points were conceded.
At the beginning of the third inning, Gu Chang-mo found a sense of stability. After inducing Moon Sung-joo to ground first base, Kim Hyun-soo struck out. Against Austin, he made a second baseman fly. In the beginning of the 4th inning, Oh Ji-hwan (left fielder fly), Moon Bo-gyeong (second baseman grounder), and Kim Min-seong (first baseman foul fly) were caught one after the other, continuing the three-way retreat.
But the 5th inning was disappointing. He had a game with lead hitter Park Dong-won to the 11th pitch, but allowed a solo arch to go over the left-middle fence. Afterwards, Koo Chang-mo, who gave Park Hae-min a bunt hit, induced Hong Chang-ki to double-hit the second baseman and seemed to take a breather, but Moon Seong-joo’s fly hit overlapped with a catch error by the shortstop and allowed him to go on base. Fortunately, Kim Hyun-soo struck out and finished the game that day without conceding any additional runs.
Meanwhile,메이저사이트 NC called right-hander sidearm Shim Chang-min to the mound in the top of the 6th inning.