‘I’m more excited to accomplish it in front of my family’ Nail
Kia Tigers foreign-born pitcher James Nail became the first foreign-born pitcher to win 10 games in a season with the club in four years, joining Aaron Brooks (11 wins) and Drew Gagnon (11 wins) in the 2020 season.
On August 13, Nail started against the Gochuk Kiwoom Heroes and pitched five innings of four-hit, 86-pitch baseball with six strikeouts and no walks in a 2-0 win.
Prior to that start, Nail had lost three consecutive starts and was on pace to reach 10 wins for the season.
Nail got into trouble in the bottom of the first inning of his start. In the bottom of the first, Nail gave up singles to Lee Joo-hyung and Song Sung-moon to put runners on first and third. However, Nail got Choi Joo-hwan to fly out to left field and then got Lim Byung-wook to ground out to short to end the inning.
Nail gave up a double to Kim Gun-hee with one out in the bottom of the second, but retired the next two batters to end the inning. After getting her first triple in the bottom of the third, Nail worked out of the inning without any more trouble in the top of the fourth.
After a leadoff single by Park Chan-ho in the top of the fifth, Neal got the final out of the inning to earn his 10th win of the season.
After throwing 86 pitches (59 for strikes) in five innings, Nail handed the ball over to Kwak Do-gyu in the bottom of the sixth to close out the game. Kia maintained its two-run lead with a bullpen relay of Kwak Do-gyu, Jang Hyun-sik, Jeon Sang-hyun, and Jung Hae-young.
After the game, Kia manager Lee Bum-ho said, “We were able to get the win because all of our pitchers on the mound, from starter Nail to closer Jung Hae-young, performed evenly. I also want to praise Kim Tae-gun’s seasoned lead. Nail had to 온라인카지노사이트 pitch twice this week, so we made a pitching change a little early and it worked out well. Congratulations to Nail on his 10th win.”
“The offense was able to get on the board in the top of the fifth inning with three straight hits, including a double by Park Chan-ho. In the top of the eighth inning, when we needed more runs, Socrates came through with a valuable RBI double to win our first game of the week. “Our hitting has been a little off lately, and with a strong performance from the mound like we had today, we expect our bats to find their rhythm again.
In conclusion, the coach said: “Well done to all the players, and it was great to see so many away fans in attendance for a midweek game. We will play a good game tomorrow.”
Nail, who reached the 10-win mark for the season, also said, “Overall, I’m happy that I pitched aggressively because I had good chemistry with catcher Kim Tae-gun and it showed in today’s game. I think it’s very meaningful to reach 10 wins in the KBO League for the first time. It’s doubly so because I pitched a no-hitter today, even though it was an away game,” he smiled.
Reaching the 10-win plateau in front of his family was also a special moment for Nail. “My family (my father, brother, and brother-in-law) came to Korea last week. They came to the ballpark today and cheered me on, which gave me strength during my pitch. It meant a lot to me to play in front of them. I’m happy to get 10 wins in front of my family, and all of our players are giving their best every game. I will prepare well for the next game so that we can maintain our current ranking until the end of the season,” said the pitcher.
With all 16,000 seats in the Gocheok Dome sold out, KIA’s away fans also filled the seats to cheer Nail’s 10th win of the season. Nail said, “Thank you to the fans for coming to the ballpark and supporting us today. I want to repay them with a good performance this season,” Nail said encouragingly.
