Without the trust of the club, the 14th KBO League history of 10 wins for five consecutive years would not have been possible. LG’s most talented foreign pitcher, Casey Kelly (34), expressed his gratitude to the LG team for deciding to join him without replacing him despite repeated poor performance.
Kelly started in the first game of the double header against KT in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League held at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on the 27th and reported his 10th win (7 losses) of the season with a perfect pitch with 5 hits, no walks, 2 strikeouts, and no runs in 7 innings. It was the 14th time in KBO League history to achieve double-digit wins for five consecutive seasons.
Kelly, whom we met after the game, said, “I feel really good. “This year, the season did not go as I wanted, so I was uncertain about achieving some records, but I believed in myself, figured out what I could do well, and tried to do it well.” done. “I want to say thank you to everyone,” he said, expressing his excitement about his 10th win.
Kelly wore the LG uniform in 2019 and achieved a total of 58 wins, including 10 wins for four consecutive years until last year, becoming the Twins’ best foreign pitcher of all time. However, this year, in his fifth year, he continued to pitch uncharacteristically of a good son. Starting with 1 win, 2 losses, and an ERA of 5.66 in April, the slump continued to be 1 win, 1 loss, and an ERA of 4.73 in June, and 1 win, 2 losses, and an ERA of 5.11 in July, and he was once embroiled in rumors of his exit.
Kelly, who had been wandering, finally regained his ace prowess at the end of August. He created an opportunity for a rebound with a 6-inning scoreless win against Lotte on August 24, and in September, he regained Kelly-like control and command, posting an average ERA of 1.42 with 2 wins and no losses in 4 games per month.
“Something wasn’t right at the beginning of the season,” Kelly said. “He kept feeling like the ball was off, so he tried to find a sense of pitching rhythm, timing, command, and control,” he said. Looking back, “everything started to fall into place last month. If you look at the game when he was having a bad time, he gave up a lot of walks due to his inconsistent command, but the number of walks has decreased recently. I am satisfied now that I can throw the ball I want. “His position, command, and control are all good,” he said with a satisfied smile.
The significance of his 10 wins for 5 consecutive years was also bound to be special. Because it was his 10th win overcoming rumors of his retirement, it felt completely different from the 10 wins of the past four years. Kelly said, “I think today’s 10th victory is the sweetest victory. I wasn’t sure if I would achieve the record, but I’m glad I achieved it, and the background was my teammates’ good defense and scoring support. “I just tried to do what I could, including long innings and aggressive pitching.”
Jamsil Jesus, who was perfectly resurrected, now looks to become the first starter in the Korean Series. LG has reduced its magic number of first place in the regular season to 6 for the first time in 29 years and is on the verge of advancing to the Korean Series for the first time in 22 years since 2002. Kelly, who has regained his ace form, is a strong candidate to be LG’s first postseason starter, and coach Yeom Kyung-yeop also recently revealed his plans in this regard.안전놀이터
“I think it would be amazing and a great feeling to be in that situation,” Kelly said. “I feel good as a player because the coach seems to have faith and confidence in me,” he said. “It’s early, but it’s natural to fulfill my responsibilities if I am selected for the first game of the Korean Series.” I’m very excited and looking forward to it. “I think I will be happy,” she said, imagining happiness.
10 wins for 5 consecutive years and 1st selection in the Korean Series are all possible because LG decided to go with Kelly. “I’m grateful to the club for believing in me and making the decision to go all the way,” said Kelly. “At the same time, I think it helped that I couldn’t read Korean articles and news,” he said. “Actually, I didn’t pay much attention to that. “I focused only on my exercise and training, and I think I achieved a turnaround as those things piled up one by one,” she said, expressing her sincerity toward the club.
She said, “There are many times in life when things don’t go as planned. Situations like this are something we can all experience in our lives. Clubs always make decisions based on what is best for the team. And it is natural to follow that decision,” she emphasized.