Lotte Giants’ Charlie Barnes (28) pitched a powerful game.
Barnes started the game against the Lotte Giants in the ‘2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League’ at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 18th and gave up two runs (one earned) on seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts in six innings.
After giving up an infield single to Kim Hye-sung in the top of the first, Barnes got Ronnie Dawson to fly out to left field and struck out Kim Hwi-jip to end the inning. In the second, back-to-back singles by Joo Sung-won and Lee Ju-hyung put runners on second and third, but he struck out Jeon Byung-woo and induced a grounder to Kim Xiang at third base to get out of the jam.
After striking out three in the third, Barnes was hit by a pitch to lead off the fourth. A walk to Lee put runners on first and second, and he eventually gave up a single to Jeon Byung-woo. Kim Xiang struck out to end the inning.
Barnes was shaky in the fifth inning. He walked Kim to lead off the inning and Dawson reached on an error by the second baseman to put runners on first and second. A wild pitch put runners on second and third, allowing Kim Hwijip to hit a tying single. However, he struck out Song Sung-moon and got Joo Sung-won to fly out to first base to end the threat.
Barnes, who also took the mound in the sixth, gave up a leadoff single to Jeon Byung-woo but struck out pinch-hitter Lee Won-seok and induced an infield grounder to Lee Yong-gyu to end the inning without allowing a run. He was replaced by Kim Sang-soo in the seventh inning with Lotte leading 3-2. However, in the eighth inning, Han Hee-hee hit a three-run home run to spoil Barnes’ day. The game ended in a 5-4 victory for Kiwoom, ending Lotte’s four-game winning streak.
Barnes, who threw 102 pitches, used a fastball (35), slider (32), changeup (27), and two-seam (8) to shut down the Kiwoom lineup. His fastball topped out at 149 mph and he had a 65.7% strikeout rate.
Barnes has been strong against Keum this season. He is 3-0 with a 1.65 ERA in four games (27⅓ innings), including this one.
Kiwoom head coach Hong Won-ki said in a pregame interview, “I think Barnes is the best left-handed foreign pitcher. His pitches are not easy to hit. It’s not just our team that struggles. He’s strong against lefties, especially on days when he has an outside fastball or slider. He’s probably the hardest pitcher to hit. I think it’s going to take one of two things to beat him: a lot of pitches up the middle because he’s not feeling well, or a bad pitch. It’s going to come down to how well hitters are able to take advantage of his pitches.”
Barnes has been working on a four-day rotation lately. That takes a toll on your body. As a result, he struggled a bit more against the Kiwoom bats than in previous games. But he still did his job, holding the Keum bats to two runs (one earned) in the sixth inning. 토토사이트
