Professional baseball player Tucker Davidson of the Lotte Giants thrilled fans at Sajik Stadium with a perfect game.

On the 8th, Davidson took the mound as the team's second pitcher in a KBO League exhibition game against the Kia Tigers at Sajik Stadium in Busan, pitching 2 innings with 20 pitches, striking out 3 batters, and recording a perfect game without allowing any runs.

The Lotte Giants, who did not re-sign Aaron Wilkerson, who recorded a solid performance last year with 12 wins and 8 losses, a 3.84 earned run average over 32 games, 196⅔ innings pitched, and 167 strikeouts, have brought in Davidson as a new player.

Davidson has a career record of 56 games (17 starts) in the major leagues, with 4 wins, 10 losses, a 5.76 earned run average (129⅔ innings, 83 earned runs), 100 strikeouts, and 68 walks. He is expected to fill the void left by Wilkerson, who had close to 200 innings of absence.

After starting pitcher Park Se-woong recorded 3 earned runs (2 earned) over 4 innings with 4 hits, 2 walks, 1 hit batter, and 2 strikeouts, Davidson took over the mound starting in the 5th inning.

In the 5th inning, Davidson faced lead-off hitter Choi Won-jun and struck him out looking with a sweeper that came in from the inner side to the middle on a 2 balls, 2 strikes count. He then retired Kim Do-young with a flyout to left field and induced a swinging strikeout from Yoon Do-hyun with a high fastball at 150 km/h.

In the 6th inning, he struck out lead-off hitter Wisdom. Facing Wisdom, a strong candidate for this year’s home run king with a career total of 88 home runs in the major leagues, Davidson did not lose strength. He started by throwing a 145 km/h fastball for a strike. The second pitch, a forkball, was called a ball, and on the third pitch, after targeting the zone with a 140 km/h slider, he induced a looking strikeout with a high forkball at 131 km/h. After one out, he retired Seo Geon-chang with a flyout to left field and Kim Seok-hwan with a flyout to center field, completing 2 perfect innings in his first appearance in the Korean stage.

Before the game, Manager Kim Tae-hyung said, "First of all, he has the kind of stuff that can definitely defeat batters. In his first two practice games, he seemed to throw a lot of breaking balls, possibly because he was exerting himself," adding, "As he keeps throwing, he will feel it and it will improve."

On that day, Davidson recorded a maximum fastball speed of 151 km/h. He used 9 fastballs, 4 sweepers, 3 forkballs, 2 sliders, and 2 curves, perfectly executing his mission. When Davidson's speed started to rise and the readout on the scoreboard surpassed 150 km/h, Sajik Stadium buzzed, and the crowd of 17,352 erupted with cheers.

After the game, Davidson said, "I was really happy to pitch in front of such a large crowd after 8 months. I was pleased with both my speed and my stuff. I still think of this as spring training and want to elevate my physical condition to maintain my best form."

The skepticism surrounding Davidson had been about his velocity. There was data indicating that his speed had been gradually decreasing right before joining the KBO League. However, he showcased that there should be no concerns over his velocity by registering speeds around 150 km/h during practice games in Miyazaki, Japan.

He also mentioned, "I hope that as the weather gets warmer, my velocity will improve even more. For now, my goal is to increase it to about 153 to 154 km/h," adding, "To elevate my speed to this level, I need to work harder."

Davidson is a player who has already experienced ABS and pitch clocks in the minor leagues. He stated, "I used it during my 4 years in the minor leagues. It seemed like the ABS was lower than I expected. However, since I haven't faced many batters, I think I need to get to know the hitters better."

Regarding pitching in front of 17,352 spectators with various cheers and music, he commented, "It was unfamiliar, but I don't think it will be a big problem. I think I'll definitely adapt as time passes," and added, "I think the U.S. should adopt this kind of cheering culture. I believe it's that good. I'm positive about this cheering culture."

He affirmed his resolution to check his form until the end and enter the regular season, stating, "I confirmed that my stuff is good during the exhibition games. Now it's important to continue achieving good results, and I will value every inning and throw with all my effort."

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