Merrill Kelly (35, Arizona) laughed at the confrontation between the two players who played an active role in the KBO league for a long time and served as foreign aces. Drew Luchinski (35, Oakland) now has to worry about being eliminated from the starting rotation.
SK’s ace and NC’s ace met in the major leagues, not the KBO league. The two players faced off on the 16th (Korean time) at the Oakland Coliseum in California, USA. Kelly played for SK from 2015 to 2018 and recorded an average ERA of 3.86 with 48 wins and 32 losses in 119 KBO league games. They were the aces of the KBO League with a 3.06 ERA.
The times the two players played in the KBO League did not overlap, and of course there was no confrontation in the KBO League. Kelly signed a 2+2 contract with Arizona in 2019 and made a thrilling major league debut. He plays as a solid starter for Arizona and is now receiving the No. 2 starter treatment. Luchinski, who would have come to the KBO league following Kelly’s example, dreamed of a ‘second Kelly dream’ by signing a 1+1 year contract with Oakland for up to $8 million ahead of this season.
However, the circumstances of the two players were quite different. Kelly was in a situation where he was perfectly adapted to the major leagues, being recognized for his sufficient performance in Arizona. He has also performed well this season. However, Luczynski was struggling in his return season to the majors. The start of the season itself was delayed due to an injury, and his performance was not good after his return.
먹튀검증 On this day, the same trend continued. Luchinski turned his back first and went down. He suffered the loss with the worst pitching of 6 hits (2 home runs), 5 walks and 6 runs in 3⅔ innings. On the other hand, Kelly won with a good pitching of 7 innings, 4 hits, 9 strikeouts and 2 runs (1 earned run).
Luczynski was hit by a double by Fletcher in the second inning. He cleaned up two out counts well, but after two shots, he hit the ground after being hit by a two-run four by Perdomo. After two shots, he was disappointed that he was a home run. In the third, he gave up a walk to leadoff Corbin, then allowed another home run to Gurriel Jr. to increase the runs.
Oakland supported the score by scoring one run against Kelly in the third inning, but the batting line was powerless. Luchinski conceded immediately after assisting the goal. In the 4th inning, he gave up another walk to leadoff Ferdomo. After one shot, he was hit by Marte, and allowed a sacrifice fly to Carol, allowing an additional point. After giving up a walk to Gurriel Jr., the Oakland bench received the ball from Luczynski.
On the other hand, Kelly cruised against Oakland, one of the weakest batting lines in the league. He did not concede an extra run until the seventh inning. The number of pitches was also stable. It was regrettable that he could not clean up the eighth inning as he was hit by a solo shot by Peterson, but he did his part. The game ended with Arizona winning 5-2.
Kelly has an ERA of 2.92 this season, and Luczynski has a 9.00. This is an indicator of the stark difference between the two players. Whether Luchinski can follow in Kelly’s footsteps, or whether everything will be gone in a year is at a crossroads.