KIA admits to being blindsided by Wilkerson’s perfect pitch “I should have gotten out sooner, but it was stable” [Oh!쎈 Busan].

The Kia Tigers were beaten by a pitcher they had never seen before. They had to admit it was a powerful pitcher.

스포츠토토Ahead of their game against the Lotte Giants at Sajik Stadium in Busan on 12 December, KIA manager Kim Jong-kook praised the pitching of Lotte starter Aaron Wilkerson, who was unable to get a hit the previous day (11 November).

KIA suffered a 1-7 defeat in the previous game. They were thwarted by Lotte starter Wilkerson’s six innings of six-hit, five-strikeout, four-walk, no-run ball. It wasn’t that they couldn’t get hits, but they didn’t have any solid ones and the hits were sporadic.

Wilkerson, who was brought in to replace Dan Streeley as a foreigner, has shown excellent command and is 2-0 with a 1.88 ERA in four games (24 innings, five earned runs).

The first time he faced the KIA line-up, Wilkerson used his aggressive pitching to take control. “I met him for the first time yesterday, and I should have taken him out quickly by making him throw a lot of pitches, but he threw well,” Kim Jong-kook said with a laugh, adding, “His command is good and he seems to have a variety of pitches overall. He seems to be a stable pitcher,” he praised.

Regarding Thomas Pannoni, who started for KIA the day before, he said, “I think the Lotte batters prepared well. They stuck around and threw a lot of pitches. Other than the home run, I pitched well and made a good save, but I was disappointed with my pitch count.” In the previous game, Panoni gave up three runs (two earned) on seven hits (two homers) in five innings with two strikeouts.

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Manager Kim Jong-kook was disappointed with the mistake of the middle infielder Socrates and the throwing error in the fifth inning. “I allowed the runner to go to third base and tried to prevent the batter from going to second base, but if I did it correctly, he wouldn’t have gone. Socrates was in a hurry. It was a bit disappointing in terms of flow.”

On the day, KIA lined up with Choi Won-jun (first baseman), Park Chan-ho (shortstop), Kim Do-young (third baseman), Na Sung-beom (right fielder), Choi Hyung-woo (left fielder), Socrates (centre fielder), Ko Jong-wook (designated hitter), Han Jun-soo (catcher) and Hong Jong-pyo (second baseman). With the exception of Park Chan-ho and Kim Do-young, they are all left-handed hitters.

The Kia Tigers were beaten by a pitcher they had never seen before. They had to admit it was a powerful pitcher. 스포츠토토Ahead of their game against the Lotte Giants at Sajik Stadium in Busan on 12 December, KIA manager Kim Jong-kook praised the pitching of Lotte starter Aaron Wilkerson, who was unable to get…