“I want him to pitch until the fifth inning.”
That’s what Hanwha Eagles manager Choi Won-ho said of Lee Tae-yang, 33, who is set to make his first start of the season. He said he plans to throw up to 80 pitches. With Jang Min-jae and Han Seung-hyuk, the fourth and fifth starters, respectively, out, the “start Lee Tae-yang” card has emerged. Even though he has starting experience, it’s been a long time since he’s pitched, so it’s hard for him to go long innings.
Veteran Lee Tae-yang lived up to his manager’s expectations. On the 16th, he started against the NC Dinos at Changwon NC Park and threw five innings of one-run ball. He was hit by a pitch early in the game, but was able to get out of it without allowing back-to-back hits.
It was his first start since returning to Hanwha last winter. It was his first start in a year and three months for the SSG Landers since May 20 against the LG Twins in Jamsil.
With a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, he got off to a good start by getting the tricky leadoff hitter Son As-seob to fly out to the third baseman. The next batter, Park Min-woo, followed with a line drive to right-center field for a triple. Park tied the game with a sacrifice fly to center field. He then struck out the next batter, Jason Martin, to end the inning.
The bottom of the second inning was scoreless despite giving up two hits. He gave up a leadoff single to Kwon Hee-dong in the fifth and a double to left center to Ahn Jung-yeol in the eighth. With runners on second and third, Kim Ju-won flied out to center field to get out of the jam.
He settled down and took control of the game. In the bottom of the third inning, Park Gun-woo singled to left. The unexpected happened. Park took advantage of a sloppy throw from left fielder Nick Williams and sprinted to second base, only to be stopped by a quick replay.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, he struck out the opposing center fielders 4-6. In the bottom of the fifth inning, a fielding error allowed a runner to reach base, but he got the next batter to pop out. He got Kim Joo-won to fly out to right field and left the game.
By the fifth inning, he had faced 18 batters on 63 pitches. He allowed four hits with no walks. His fastball reached a high of 144 mph and a low of 138 mph. He threw 73 percent (46) strikes. Choi Won-ho has been worried about his four or five starters lately, but Lee Tae-yang gave him a reason to smile.스포츠토토
Lee has been an all-around performer who has been in and out of contention. In 40 relief appearances, he has 55⅔ innings pitched, a 1-2 record, and a 2.43 ERA.
Lee made his first start for Hanwha on May 12, 2017, against the LG Twins, allowing one run in five innings of work. It was his last start for Hanwha. It’s likely that we’ll see Hanwha’s Lee Tae-yang get a start sooner rather than later.