Tucker Davidson, 29, of the Lotte Giants, made a successful debut in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League and ended the team's season-opening two-game losing streak.
Davidson started the game against the SSG Landers on the 25th at Incheon SSG Landers Field, recording 7 innings, 3 hits allowed (1 home run), 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, and 1 earned run.
Starting the game with 1 run of support, Davidson walked the leadoff batter, Choi Ji-hoon, in the bottom of the first inning. Jeong Jun-jae caught a ground ball to make the out at first base but committed a pick-off error, creating a crisis with one out and two runners on base. Nevertheless, he struck out Park Seong-han and caught Guillermo Heredia's fly ball to right field, escaping the risk of giving up runs.
After overcoming one crisis, Davidson regained stability. He retired the side in order in the 4th and 5th innings, showcasing clean pitching. In the 6th inning, after retiring Choi Ji-hoon and Jeong Jun-jae, he allowed a hit to Park Seong-han but induced a ground ball from Heredia, ending the inning without further troubles. In the 8th inning, with the Lotte Giants leading 2-1, he handed the mound over to Jeong Cheol-won and finished his appearance for the day. Lotte's closer, Kim Won-jung, allowed an equalizer, but they emerged victorious with a score of 3-2 after extra innings, breaking their season-opening two-game losing streak.
Davidson recorded 89 pitches, using a slider (44 pitches), fastball (18 pitches), forkball (15 pitches), sweeper (8 pitches), and curve (4 pitches). His fastball reached a maximum speed of 148 km/h, while the slider also showcased impressive velocity at 142 km/h. He displayed an aggressive pitching style with a strike rate of 68.5%.
After the game, Davidson said, “There was a poor result last weekend. I wanted to help the team win today. Analyzing the opposing team's hitters with the catcher yesterday on my day off was a big help for my first appearance.”
Using 44 sliders, which was more than double his fastball, Davidson displayed a fast slider that catcher Jeong Mu-geun described as “a cutter-like slider.” Jeong noted, “He has a sharp and good pitch that works against both left and right-handed batters. If he continues to pitch like today, I believe he can easily achieve over 10 wins.”
Davidson said, “Before entering today’s game, I focused on increasing the out count.” He added, “The slider and forkball played a good role in managing the game and greatly helped me control my pitch count.” He continued, “Today is just the first appearance of the season. I want to consistently work hard to adapt to the KBO League and become a player who can play an important role on the team.”
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