The new foreign pitcher of the Lotte Giants, Tucker Davidson, completed his final check-up. He is looking forward to his regular season debut on the 25th.
Davidson took the mound as a starter on the 19th in a Futures League game against the NC Dinos at Changwon Masan Stadium, pitching 5 innings, throwing 82 pitches, allowing 4 hits, 1 walk, striking out 9, and giving up 1 run.
Davidson, who joined Lotte as a new foreign pitcher this year, took part in his final check-up ahead of the regular season. With no further exhibition game appearances scheduled, Davidson took the mound in the Futures League game on this day as his last appearance before the regular season starts.
In the exhibition games, he made 2 appearances, recording an earned run average of 1.50 (6 innings and 1 earned run). On the 8th, he pitched in relief against KIA, throwing 2 perfect innings, striking out 3 without allowing any runs. In the game against Hanwha on the 13th, he started and struggled somewhat with 4 innings, allowing 7 hits, 2 walks, 1 hit batter, striking out 3, and giving up 1 run. His highest pitch speed on the 8th was 151 km/h, and on the 13th, it was 148 km/h.
NC also struggled to complete the exhibition schedule, leading to first-team batters such as Park Gun-woo, Seo Ho-cheol, Cheon Jae-hwan, and Park Si-won being included in the lineup. On the mound, starter resources like Choi Seong-young and Shin Min-hyeok took turns on the mound. Davidson allowed the first run in the first inning, giving up a double to lead-off batter Park Gun-woo. He struck out Park Si-won on 3 pitches but allowed a left-single to Seo Ho-cheol, resulting in the run. However, he struck out Han Jae-hwan on 3 pitches and Cheon Jae-hwan also went down on strikes to finish the first inning.
In the second inning, he recorded a quick 3 outs by retiring Song Seung-hwan on a ground ball to shortstop, Kim Se-hoon on a fly ball to right field, and Kim Jeong-ho on strikes. In the third inning, he also retired lead-off batter Kim Han-byeol on a ground ball to shortstop on the first pitch, got Park Gun-woo on a ground ball to second base on the first pitch, and struck out Park Si-won for a consecutive 3 out inning.
In the fourth inning, Davidson struck out lead-off batters Seo Ho-cheol and Han Jae-hwan. After 2 outs, he allowed a double to Cheon Jae-hwan to left field but induced Song Seung-hwan into a ground ball to third base, ending the inning without allowing a run.
In the fifth inning, he got lead-off batter Kim Se-hoon on a ground ball to shortstop. He allowed a double to Kim Jeong-ho to left field but struck out Kim Han-byeol. With 2 outs and a runner on second base, he walked Park Gun-woo but struck out Park Si-won to escape the threat.
Davidson, who completed his outing through the fifth inning, handed the ball to Lee Min-seok, concluding his appearance for the day. Out of 82 pitches, he threw 58 strikes and 24 balls, showcasing aggressive pitching. Davidson's debut in the regular season on the Korean stage is scheduled to take place against SSG on the 25th.
Meanwhile, Choi Seong-young, included in NC's opening rotation, recorded 5 innings, allowing 4 hits, 1 walk, striking out 5, and giving up 3 runs. Another starting resource, Shin Min-hyeok, followed up with 4 innings, allowing 2 hits (1 home run), 1 walk, striking out 3, and giving up 1 run.
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