“Dougout reaction? Not really…”
Kiwoom Heroes’ An Woo-jin started the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League Doosan Bears season 5 home match held at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 18th and pitched 6 innings. During the season, he recorded 99 pitches, 6 hits, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts and 2 runs (2 earned), winning his 3rd win of the season.
It was obviously not in the best condition. It wasn’t that there wasn’t enough scoring support either. However, An Woo-jin produced the best result by throwing a mixture of slider (20 pitches), curve (14 pitches), and changeup (8 pitches) based on a fastball (57 pitches) of up to 158km. And in this process, he even created the 14th record in the history of the KBO League.
Ahn Woo-jin was in danger of conceding 2 outs on 1st and 2nd bases from the 1st inning, with a hit to lead hitter Sue-bin Su and a walk to Yang Eui-ji. In the process, he played a fierce game with Jose Rojas, going as far as 13 pitches, but the result was 1 RBI, 2 bases, and he started the game with the first run. But it didn’t take long to find peace.
Ahn Woo-jin overcame the second inning with no runs, and then tied the Doosan batting line with a three-way strike in the third and fourth innings. Then the biggest crisis came. Ahn Woo-jin was hit 3 times in a row by Jang Seung-hyeon, Lee Yoo-chan and Jung Soo-bin, and after giving up the 2nd run, he was driven to the crisis of 1st and 3rd base. This is where the helmet of ‘Supreme’ was born.
Ahn Woo-jin took a two-strike against Park Gye-beom and threw a 133km curve on the third pitch to eliminate looking strikeouts and let out a sigh. Then, Yang Eui-ji also caught a strike with a curve on the first pitch, induced a foul with a 153km fastball, and struck out consecutively by using a 146km slider on the third pitch. And Yang Seok-hwan also struck out with a 152km fastball on the 3rd pitch, making a record of striking out 3 batters in a row for the 14th time in the history of the KBO League.
Ahn Woo-jin, who had increased the number of pitches by throwing 35 pitches in the first inning only, prevented a big crisis in the 5th inning with only 1 point, then climbed the mound in the 6th inning, and tied the lineup leading to Jose Rojas-Heo Gyeong-min-Yang Chan-yeol and started the quality (6 innings 3 ERA or less), and with the help of the batting line and bullpen pitchers, he won his third win.
How does it feel to strike out all three batters on three pitches? Ahn Woo-jin said, “It was the center line, and I was thinking a lot about double-strikes against Park Gye-beom. It was in the middle of the game, and I thought I needed to strike out while easily catching two strikes in a winning situation. Actually, I tried to throw a curve low, but the strike zone I struck out as I went in. I think I was lucky that the batter didn’t hit,” he smiled.
Continuing, An Woo-jin said, “I thought it would be nice if senior Yang Eui-ji came out next time, too. So I threw a curve in the first pitch and threw a fastball in the next, but (timing) was late and I got an advantage as I earned two strikes. In fact, there is a variable at the moment the bat hits, so strikeouts are the safest, so I was greedy for strikeouts.”
Regarding the head-to-head confrontation with Yang Seok-hwan, he said, “Yang Seok-hwan hit a home run for me last year, and I think he hits the best among right-handed hitters. That’s why I was most wary from the time I analyzed it, but I think it’s fortunate that I didn’t match Yang Seok-hwan today.” “I was confident against senior Yang Eui-ji. However, I thought it would be difficult for senior Yang Seok-hwan, but I think (swing) was slow because I thought about the breaking ball in the two-strike,” he revealed the secret.
Who led the game and the ball combination against the three batters who set a record? He said, “(Kim) Dong-heon and I only worked together once during the camp. I started with Dong-heon from the previous pitching, and now I think it is a process of learning what to throw in what situation.” The first pitch curve was chosen by Dongheon. I am grateful to Dongheon for the good results.” In other words, most of the ball combinations were led by Ahn Woo-jin, but it was the moment when Kim Dong-heon’s choice was also hit.
When asked about the reaction of the dugout and the ‘ceremony’ at the time of Jin-reok, Ahn Woo-jin laughed shyly, saying, “There is no particular reaction…” and said, “I don’t usually do the ceremony well. was a thought. I didn’t even know it led to a record.”
An Woo-jin,토토사이트 who has been in numerous games, but it was clear that the strikeout on three pitches in five consecutive batters against Doosan on the 18th left an impact worthy of being counted among them.