The back-to-back no-hitters were so shocking…what will manager Park Jin-man do?
Will Oh Seung-hwan continue to be the closing man for the Samsung Lions? It’s a tough question to answer.
Samsung suffered a shocking defeat. Samsung lost 3-5 against KT Wiz at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on Friday, as their trusted closer Oh Seung-hwan gave up back-to-back home runs to Oh Jae-il and Hwang Jae-gyun in the top of the ninth inning. A chance for a three-game sweep was lost.
Choi Ji-kwang was the losing pitcher. He gave up a leadoff single to Kim Min-hyuk in the top of the ninth inning with the score 2-2 and handed the bases over to Oh Seung-hwan. Oh Seung-hwan gave up a two-run double to Oh Jae-il, who scored the game-winning run off Choi Ji-kwang.
However, blown save or not, it was a shock to Samsung that Oh Seung-hwan gave up back-to-back home runs to consecutive batters.
Oh Seung-hwan is uneasy. With 27 saves, he’s well past 40 years old, and he’s defying his age to hold onto the title. Every time he records a save, the record for the oldest save keeps changing. It’s a remarkable feat.
But he also has six blown saves.
This is also tied for first place. Even if it doesn’t count as a blown save, like the one against KT, it adds up to games where he didn’t preserve the win.
We’ve been noticing a strange trend since July. Seung-hwan Oh is old, and as the weather heats up and the innings pile up, he’s bound to get tired. In nine games in July, he went 1-2 with two saves and a 12.15 ERA. In August, he gave up four hits against the KIA Tigers and took the loss.
After the game, manager Park Jin-man hinted at the possibility of changing Oh’s position. He didn’t say that he would change his closing role, but he did say that he would make a hierarchical decision in favor of pitchers who are in good shape regardless of the order.
However, not much has changed since then. Samsung’s closer is still Oh Seung-hwan. 파워볼실시간 What has changed is that they are putting him in tougher environments. Against KIA on the 11th, Choi Ha-neul pitched the ninth inning and was brought up when the leadoff hitter singled. Against KT, Choi Ji-kwang brought in Oh Seung-hwan in a pinch-hit situation. It’s hard enough to come in with the bases loaded and get through the first inning, but bringing in a depleted Oh Seung-hwan in an even more stressful situation may not be the best option. Park needs to make a decision, whether to go with another pitcher to close out the game or, if he has faith in Seung-hwan, to let him pitch the first inning from the start.
Tough call.
After spending 5.8 billion won ($5.8 million) to acquire free agent closer Kim Jae-yoon, it was not easy to turn the ‘legend’ Oh Seung-hwan into a closer and use Kim Jae-yoon as the closer in many ways. Unless Kim Jae-yoon shows an overwhelming pitching performance, I’m not sure about him. So, it’s a pattern of turning to Oh Seung-hwan again.
Fans have been expressing their frustration with Oh’s continued struggles. It’s not that they’re unhappy with his performances and results, but rather that they’re feeling sorry for the legendary pitcher as he falls apart. Compared to his prime, it’s clear that his pitches have lost a lot of their effectiveness. He’s learned from his experience and is now playing with tricks. But it’s going to be an uphill battle because the batters are not afraid of him at all.