"I need to bring back the victory." Flower director, "Smile Guy" Yoon Young-chul finally laughed
"I need to bring back the victory." Flower director, "Smile Guy" Yoon Young-chul finally laughed
Blog Article
KIA Tigers left-hander Young-gun Yoon Young-chul showed his best pitching this season.
Yoon Young-chul started Game 6 of the season against the Hanwha Eagles in the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League held at Gwangju-KIA Champions Field on the 6th, and won his first win of the season by pitching six innings of three hits, one strikeout and seven strikeouts. He also achieved a quality start (more than six innings and less than three earned runs) for the first time in 350 days since the match against Hanwha in Gwangju on June 21 last year.스포츠토토
Yoon pitched 79 pitches (47 strikes and 32 balls), the highest number of sliders (34) by type of pitch. Fastballs (28), curves, cutters (six) and changeups (5) followed. The maximum speed of fastballs was 141 km/h.
Nicknamed the "Smile Guy," Yoon couldn't help but smile as his slump in the early days of this season dragged on. Before the game on Sunday, Yoon appeared in seven games this season, and posted five losses and an earned run average of 6.75 in 24 innings. It was far from what Kia expected before the season opened.
Yoon Young-chul raised expectations by pitching five innings in the last two games, from the match against the Samsung Lions in Daegu on the 25th of last month to the match against the KT Wiz in Suwon on the 31st. KIA manager Lee Bum-ho, who met with reporters ahead of the game, stressed, "Today (the 6th) is a must-win game."
"I asked him to focus on the batters. Only when Young-cheol or (Kim) Do-hyun throws it can the balance continue to improve. I think Young-cheol should throw well and bring victory. I will definitely play a game that Young-cheol can win today," he added.
Yoon Young-chul showed stable pitching from the beginning. Starting with Esteban Floral, the first batter in the top of the first inning, and Chae Eun-seong, the fifth batter in the top of the second inning, made a smooth start by handling five consecutive hitters. He gave up a double to Lee Jin-young with two outs, but Ha Joo-seok struck out the inning.
Yoon continued his scoreless streak in the top of the third inning. After Choi Jae-hoon's strikeout and Lee Do-yoon's grounder to second base, Floral hit, but Choi In-ho's fly ball to right field ended the inning.
Yoon's biggest crisis came at the top of the fourth inning. After the strikeout of leadoff hitter Moon Hyun-bin, Noh Si-hwan's walk and Chae Eun-seong's hit made the situation first and second base with one out. However, Yoon was not swayed anymore. Lee Jin-young's fly ball to right field and Ha Joo-seok's fly ball to second base helped him overcome the crisis.
In the top of the fifth inning, he blocked the pitcher with three outs and a strikeout, satisfying the requirements for a winning pitcher. In the top of the sixth inning, he continued his cruise with Choi In-ho's grounder to the second base, Moon Hyun-bin's grounder to the pitcher, and Roh Si-hwan's strikeout. It was Yoon's last inning on the day.
KIA kept its lead until the end and beat Hanwha 3-2. Then, Yoon became the winning pitcher for the first time in eight games since the opening of this season. "He pitched perfectly. He deserved to be the winning pitcher," Lee said, applauding Yoon.