‘This isn’t what it’s supposed to be’…Samsung’s 28-year-old reserve left-hander says comeback game was his best since returning from military service

Choi Chae-heung, 28, picked up his first win since leaving the military.

The Samsung Lions’ Choi Chae-hung suffered his third loss of the season after giving up five runs (four earned) on eight hits (one home run) and two walks in five innings against the Doosan Bears in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on April 8.

Choi was shaky from the first inning. He got off to a shaky start by giving up a leadoff homer to Jung Soo-bin, then gave up a single to Kim Jae-ho and a throwing error by the second baseman to put runners on first and third with no outs. Ang struck out Seok-hwan, but Kang Seung-ho’s grounder to shortstop allowed Kim Jae-ho to score.

The second and third innings were scoreless, but they gave up another run in the fourth. Kang Seung-ho and Kim Jae-hwan were hit by pitches. But then Kim Min-hyuk singled, Park Yoo-yeon singled, Heo Kyung-min singled, and an error by the second baseman allowed Park to score from second. Choi shook his head.

After a scoreless fifth inning, the offense tried to rally with a run in the sixth and two in the ninth, but it was no laughing matter. Samsung lost 3-5, snapping a three-game losing streak and failing to climb out of last place.

Choi Chae-heung made his first start of the season against the LG Twins in Jamsil on June 12, a day after being discharged from the Armed Forces Athletic Corps (Commerce), and he lived up to Samsung manager Park Jin-man’s expectations by pitching 5.1 innings of three-hit ball with two walks and two strikeouts.

At the time, Park Jin-man said, “I thought Choi Chae-heung would just say, ‘He pitches well,’ but he pitched well enough to take the ‘5’ out of ‘5’ and be a part of the starting rotation. I was relieved to see that. I’m sure there was a lot of pressure on him, but he did a great job.” “My command is definitely different. I’m more confident on the mound. Maybe it’s because I’ve been eating army food for a year and a half, but I’m more confident. He showed strong pitches on the mound,” and showed expectations.

Yang Chang-seop, Heo Yoon-dong, and others were not able to take the fifth spot on Samsung’s roster. Everyone saw that the right person for Samsung’s fifth spot had emerged.메이저사이트

Since then, however, Choi has never pitched better than his comeback. His most innings and shutouts of the season came in his comebacks. He went 1-0 with a 7.56 ERA in four games in June, 1-0 with a 6.75 ERA in two games in July, and 1-0 with a 7.20 ERA in two games in August. He’s giving up nearly one home run per game and hasn’t pitched more than six innings in any of his starts. His season record is 8-3 with a 7.27 ERA.

Samsung is in trouble. If the season ends this way, they will finish last for the first time in franchise history. With Albert Suarez sidelined for four weeks with a calf injury, Choi Chae-heung will need to step up as a replacement for the David Buchanan-Won Tae-in-Baek Jung-hyun lineup.