KT manager Lee Kang-cheol reflected on foreign pitcher Benjamin Benjamin’s perfect game and lamented a hit by Choi Jung.
Benjamin started against SSG in Incheon on December 12 and didn’t allow a single hit or walk until the sixth inning. It was a perfect streak. However, in the bottom of the seventh inning, he gave up a double to Choi Jeong.
“If I didn’t get hit by Choi Jeong, I thought I could have had a perfect game,” said Lee Kang-cheol, reviewing the previous day’s game before the Changwon NC on the 13th. “Yesterday’s ball was so good. It had good fastball power and a good cutter. I couldn’t hit it.”
“In the first inning, second inning, I realized it wasn’t a normal ball. Our hitters were like, ‘We just need one run today.’ They know (Benjamin’s pitches are different), but that one run didn’t go in… Kwang-hyun wasn’t bad yesterday,” Lee said.토토사이트
Lee continued, “Choi Jeong had a blurry ball. Earlier, when it was a three-ball against Choi Ji-hoon, I thought, ‘Oh, that’s it (perfect),’ but he overcame it and got the out. I threw a lot of pitches (eight) to Choi Ji-hoon, so I think it affected his game.”
Benjamin was hit by a pitch off Choi with two outs in the seventh inning, but he remained scoreless until the eighth. KT scored a run in the sixth inning to take a 1-0 lead.
“Benjamin had thrown 103 pitches by the eighth inning, and we were one run down, so I had him ready for the ninth inning, but Byung-ho hit a home run to make it 3-0, so I brought in Jae-yoon for the final out.” Lee said. Benjamin will have to pitch again on Sunday, so I took him out.”
Benjamin is now 15-5 with a 3.62 ERA in 26 games this season. He is second in wins. “I talked to him once when he was really bad in August, and it didn’t seem like the ball was the problem,” Lee said. I asked him if he’d ever played a full season, and he said he’d never played a full season, except in the majors and minors. There was also the August heat, so I think it was a temporary setback.”