SSG Landers pitcher Anthony Venegas did not show satisfactory pitching in his fifth appearance either.
SSG suffered a 2-12 loss in the home game against the KT Wiz in the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League at Incheon SSG Landers Field on Apr. 26. Starter Venegas took the loss, allowing six hits (one home run), striking out five, issuing two walks and giving up five runs (four earned) over five innings for his second loss of the season.
Venegas is a U.S. pitcher from New Jersey whom SSG signed for an aggregates $850,000 (salary $750,000, option $100,000). Venegas entered professional baseball in the 2019 draft as a 10th-round pick of the Kansas City Royals and made his major league debut in 2023. He went on to play for the Miami Marlins and the St. Louis Cardinals through last year, appearing in 40 major league games totaling 40.2 innings with one win, five holds and a 3.98 earned run average.
He worked mostly as a starter in the minor leagues, and the club at the time of signing said it valued his strong stuff, the rarity of a left-handed starter, his ability to eat innings and his aggressive pitching style.
Venegas is a left-handed fireballer with an imposing build at 196 cm and 95 kg, capable of a top fastball of 155 kph and an average of 150 kph, and throwing a variety of offspeed pitches including a slider, changeup and curve. In the minors he made 98 starts in 140 games, threw more than 509 innings and recorded 521 strikeouts. In 2023 at Triple-A he made 25 starts, went 10-5 with a 3.55 ERA and threw 132 innings, remaining in the starting rotation. He had ample experience.
But he has fallen short of expectations in the KBO League. Venegas entered the game without a win and with one loss and a 6.16 ERA over his previous four starts. He had not once worked six innings.
In his previous start on the 21st against the Samsung Lions he lasted 4 1/3 innings, allowing nine hits (one home run), two walks, two strikeouts and four runs. Over four games he threw 19 innings and surrendered 15 runs (13 earned).
There was attention on whether Venegas could produce a turnaround like Takeda, but he gave up a bases-loaded home run in the first inning and eventually took the loss.
In the first inning he wobbled after giving up a leadoff infield single to Kim Min-hyeok and hitting Choi Won-joon with a pitch. He then induced Kim Hyun-soo into a grounder to first that allowed him to get Choi, who was running to second.
With runners at first and third and one out, he gave up an RBI single to Jang Sung-woo and then surrendered a three-run homer to Hilliard that cleared the right-field wall.
In the second inning, with one out and no runners, he yielded a center-right hit to Lee Kang-min, then got Kim Min-hyeok to hit into an infield groundout and recorded Lee Kang-min in a rundown to escape the inning without allowing a run. In the third inning he struck out all three batters he faced.
After getting through the fourth inning with two strikeouts and no runs, Venegas gave up a leadoff infield single to Lee Kang-min in the fifth. Attempting to field Kim Min-hyeok's bunt and throw to first, Venegas committed a throwing error. That play resulted in an additional run.
Venegas turned the ball over to the bullpen in the sixth inning with the team trailing 2-5. The bullpen also gave up a home run, and SSG failed to extend its six-game winning streak.
[OSEN]