Kelly’s Farewell Game, ‘Jamsil Jesus’, That Came Like a Surprise Rainstorm [어제의 프로야구]

2024-07-22 02:13:29

Kelly and her family leave Korea. Courtesy of LG

It was a finale that perfectly fit the expression ‘annoying rain’.

LG foreign pitcher Kelly (35) started against Doosan at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on the 20th even after receiving notice of his release.

Teammates who have been with him since 2019 also scored 6 points through the second inning.

But the game was halted before Kelly finished pitching in the top of the third inning as rain began to fall heavily.

In the end, the farewell match of Kelly, LG’s longest-serving foreign player, ended in a ‘no game’.

Eight minutes after the no-game declaration, LG announced the acquisition of a new foreign pitcher, Eliezer Hernandez (29, Venezuela).

Kelly’s last appearance in an LG uniform. Courtesy of LG

Kelly played for LG for over five years, appearing in 163 regular season games and pitching 989 and 1/3 innings, recording a career record of 73 wins, 46 losses, and an ERA of 3.25.

During this period, no pitcher for LG threw more pitches or won more games than Kelly.

Lim Chan-gyu (32), who came in second in both categories, pitched 658 innings and earned 40 wins.

Kelly went 4-1 with a 2.08 ERA in 47 2/3 innings in the postseason.

Kelly was the losing pitcher in Game 1 of the Korean Series last year, allowing two runs (one earned) in 6 1/3 innings.

However, in Game 5, he pitched 5 innings, allowing only 1 run, making him the first LG foreign pitcher to win a game in the Korean Series.

Kelly roaring during Game 5 of the Korean Series last year. News 1

This year, he was in a slump with an ERA of 5.60 until May, but showed signs of a rebound after June by lowering the record to 3.18.

However, LG executives, including manager Yeom Kyung-yeop, decided to bring out the replacement card after determining that Kelly was too inconsistent and ‘not making sense.’

An official said, “I understand that Kelly judged that it would not be easy for him to bounce back this year like he did last year because his fastball speed was lower than usual.”

Since 2022, Kelly’s average fastball speed has been dropping every year: △145.4 km/h △144.7 km/h △142.5 km/h.

After the ‘farewell party’ that day, Kelly said, “My previous appearance was against Hanwha in Daejeon, so I said I would go to the game because I wanted to go up on the mound one more time in front of my home fans.”

He then choked up and said, “It was a great honor to pitch and win Game 5 last year when LG won the Korean Series for the first time in 29 years.”

KIA’s Kim Do-young hits his 24th home run of the season. Courtesy of KIA

The leading KIA defeated Hanwha 8-4 in their away game in Daejeon on this day, putting them 6.5 games ahead of second-place LG.

While KIA is on a five-game winning streak, 9th place Hanwha is in a six-game losing streak.

Third-place Samsung broke their three-game losing streak by beating Lotte 21-4 in their home game in Daegu.

21 points is the most points scored in a game this season.

The match between Suwon (NC-KT) and Munhak (Kiwoom-SSG) ended in a no-game due to rain.

▽Starting pitchers on the 21st △Jamsil: Doosan Choi Won-jun-LG Son Ju-young △Moonhak: Kiwoom Hurado-SSG Song Young-jin △Daegu: Lotte Barnes-Samsung Lee Seung-hyun △Suwon: NC Kim Si-hoon-KT Benjamin △Daejeon: KIA Hwang Dong-ha-Hanwha Weiss

Reporter Hwang Gyu-in [email protected]

2024-07-22 02:13:29