NC Dinos pitcher Riley Thomson delivered a perfect outing in his first real-game appearance since his injury.
Riley started on the mound in the Futures League game against the Lotte Giants held at Changwon Masan Stadium on the 30th, throwing five innings with one hit allowed, no walks, six strikeouts and no runs to complete a perfect outing before leaving the mound.
Riley posted last year a stat line of 30 games, 17 wins, 7 losses, 3.45 earned run average (172 innings, 66 earned runs), and 216 strikeouts. He shared the wins title with Cody Ponce, who moved on to Major League Baseball's Toronto Blue Jays. In addition, he established a new club record for most strikeouts by surpassing Eric Fedde (Chicago White Sox), who is regarded as the best foreign pitcher in NC club history, with 209 strikeouts. He signed with NC for a total of 1.25 million dollars (40,000 dollars signing bonus, 600,000 dollars salary, 250,000 dollars incentives), and 180 million won.
However, he has not yet appeared in a first-team game this year. On March 21 in a preseason game against the KT Wiz he complained of a side strain, and detailed tests showed a tear of the left oblique muscle. This was his first official real-game appearance since then. In the first inning he struck out the leadoff batter Cho Min-young on three pitches, induced a groundout by Yun Su-nyeong to second base, and retired Seo Ha-eun on a fly to center field.
In the second inning he struck out Kim Dong-hyun looking and retired Lee In-han on a fly to center. After two outs, he allowed a left-field single to Ha Jun-seo but finished the second inning by striking out Kim Hyun-do.
In the third inning he struck out Lee Jeong-min swinging, induced a left-field fly by Lee Ji-hoon, and struck out Cho Min-young to continue steady pitching. In the fourth inning he retired Yun Su-nyeong on a fly to center, got Seo Ha-eun on a groundout to shortstop, and induced a groundout to second base by Kim Dong-hyun.
In the fifth inning he struck out the leadoff batter Lee In-han swinging, retired Ha Jun-seo on a left-field fly, and got Kim Hyun-do on a groundout to shortstop to finish his outing for the day.
Riley began a steady comeback build-up from mid-April. He started bullpen throwing on the 14th (17 pitches), followed by live pitching on the 17th (2 innings, 36 pitches), bullpen throwing again on the 20th (28 pitches), and live pitching on the 23rd (3⅓ innings, 45 pitches). Then from bullpen throwing on the 27th (29 pitches) he began measuring velocity, with a top speed of 146 kph.
And on that day he made his first real-game appearance, reaching a top speed of 149 kph and indicating that a return to the first team is imminent.
Meanwhile, NC held on after Riley's injury by signing Drew Verhagen as an injury replacement. Verhagen posted a record of 5 appearances, 1 win, with a 3.47 earned run average, and left NC after his contract ended on May 5.
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