‘Debut win’ Kia Sanchez says double-kicking criticism “shouldn’t be done”

Despite repeated protests from the opposing team and warnings from the umpire, KIA Tigers foreign pitcher Mario Sanchez, 28, responded to the pitching controversy by saying, “I won’t do it again.”

Sanchez pitched 6⅓ innings of one-run, five-hit ball with 10 strikeouts in a 5-1 victory over the visiting KT Wiz of the 2023 Baseball World Series at Katie Wiz Park in Suwon on Sept. 9.

He drew a protest and an umpire’s warning from KT for a double-kicking motion in the fourth inning, and again in the sixth when he adopted a hesitant pitching stance to facilitate a runner on base.

However, Sanchez was unfazed and fought back to earn his first win.

“I tried not to let it bother me, and I threw the ball more confidently,” Sanchez said after the game, adding, “Double-kicking is something I’ve been doing throughout my career, but it’s something I need to stop doing.”

“One of my teammates last year (in the minor leagues) did the same thing,” Sanchez said of his hesitant pitching motion with runners on base. “I tried it in spring training and it worked right away and I’ve been using it ever since.”

Sanchez also drew some attention in the sixth inning when he made a series of strikes in the same pitching motion in response to a protest from KT.

“I didn’t do it with the intention of protesting,” he said, “I did it because I got information from the pregame power analysis that (first baseman) Kim Sang-soo was fast.”온라인바카라

“I think the stiff pitching motion does something to keep the runner on first base,” he said, adding, “There’s nothing special about it.”

On the day, Sanchez used a curveball that curved outside the right-field zone early in the game as his deciding pitch, and then turned to his slider midway through the game.

“I’ve been throwing the sweeper since last year,” he said, “and it’s my favorite pitch. When asked about his habit of throwing with his feet on the first base side of the plate, he laughed and said, “It’s not easy to throw a fastball toward the left-hander’s body, so I gradually moved it to the end and got to where I am now.” “I don’t think it has any special effect,” he said.

Sanchez, who gave himself a “90” on the day’s pitches, said, “My average fastball velocity was in the 150-kilometer range until last year.” “This year, my velocity dropped a little bit, which is a little disappointing,” he said. On the day, Sanchez’s fastball was clocked at 147 mph.

Sanchez, a right-handed pitcher from Venezuela, joined the KIA as a substitute foreign pitcher on June 6 after playing for the Tung Yi Lions of the Taiwanese Professional Baseball League.

After impressing in his KBO debut, Sanchez will be well-rested during the All-Star break (April 14-20) and will begin to rack up wins in the second half of the season.

Despite repeated protests from the opposing team and warnings from the umpire, KIA Tigers foreign pitcher Mario Sanchez, 28, responded to the pitching controversy by saying, “I won’t do it again.” Sanchez pitched 6⅓ innings of one-run, five-hit ball with 10 strikeouts in a 5-1 victory over the visiting KT Wiz of the 2023 Baseball…