The sharp strikeout march of the glasses ace unfolded. He set a new personal record for most strikeouts in a game after nearly three years.
Park Se-woong of the Lotte Giants took the mound as a starter in a game against the Kiwoom Heroes at Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 17th, pitching 6⅔ innings with 6 hits allowed, 2 walks, 12 strikeouts, and no earned runs.
That day, the maximum speed reached 151 km. He threw a variety of pitches, mixing 35 fastballs, 30 curves, 32 sliders, and 11 forkballs, and he deployed a range of pitches as deciding pitches, handling the game perfectly.
Park Se-woong's strikeout march began in the first inning. He handled the lead-off hitter, Song Seong-mun, with a ground ball to the pitcher. He then struck out Lee Ju-hyung and Cardines in succession, finishing the first inning with a perfect three outs.
In the second inning, he allowed a single to lead-off hitter Choi Joo-hwan. However, he struck out Kim Keon-hee looking with a fastball and got Jeon Tae-hyun to swing and miss at a curve. He then struck out Puig swinging with a slider to complete the second inning.
In the third inning, he handled lead-off hitter Kim Tae-jin with a ground ball to second base. He then faced a crisis, allowing a single to Oh Joon-seo and a bunt hit to Song Seong-mun, leading to runners on first and second with one out. However, he induced Lee Ju-hyung into a ground ball to first base, creating two outs with runners on second and third, and then got Cardines to ground out to shortstop, overcoming the scoring threat.
In the fourth inning, he got lead-off hitter Choi Joo-hwan to ground out to second base and struck out Kim Keon-hee swinging with a slider on the fourth pitch. However, after two outs, he allowed a walk to Jeon Tae-hyun after establishing two strikes. He then gave up a blooped single to Puig, putting runners on first and third with two outs. But he managed to get Kim Tae-jin to fly out to center field, overcoming yet another threat.
After that, Park Se-woong found his rhythm again. In the fifth inning, he threw a curve against lead-off hitter Oh Joon-seo and struck him out on the fourth pitch. Against Song Seong-mun, he threw a slider, curve, and forkball in succession to record a strikeout on three pitches. He then faced Lee Ju-hyung, throwing a fastball, forkball, and curve sequentially to complete another strikeout on three pitches, achieving a KKK inning with 10 pitches.
In the sixth inning, Park Se-woong struck out Cardines with three pitches using a slider, forkball, and curve. He got Choi Joo-hwan to ground out to second base on the first pitch. Although he allowed a hit to Kim Keon-hee after a single to center field, he finished the sixth inning by striking out Jeon Tae-hyun swinging with a forkball with two outs and a runner on first.
In the seventh inning, he induced Puig to ground out to third base. After one out, he allowed a single to Kim Tae-jin, but he struck out Oh Joon-seo swinging, taking a sigh of relief. However, with two outs and a runner on first, he issued a walk to Song Seong-mun, resulting in two outs with runners on first and second. Ultimately, Park Se-woong was unable to finish the seventh inning. His pitch count had already risen to 108.
However, Song Jae-young, who came in with two outs and runners on first and second, struck out Lee Ju-hyung swinging to end the inning. Park Se-woong's earned runs did not increase, allowing Lotte to face the latter half of the game with more stability.
On this day, Park Se-woong's 12 strikeouts set a new personal record for most strikeouts in a game. On May 10, 2022, he recorded 11 strikeouts against NC at Sajik. He had not achieved a double-digit strikeout game in 1,073 days, setting a new record.
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