‘Ace’ mode reactivated. Casey Kelly blows away concerns with a complete game shutout.
LG Twins’ Kelly pitched six innings of three-hit, five-strikeout, one-walk ball against the Lotte Giants at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on Thursday. He is winless in his last three starts. Kelley’s pitches have been up and down since June, with just two wins in 12 appearances. In his previous four seasons as LG’s “ace,” Kelley consistently posted ERAs in the 2-3 range, but this year, his ERA and run rate have increased to 4.
After taking the loss against the Samsung Lions on April 17, giving up four runs (two earned) on 10 hits (one home run) in six innings with six strikeouts and one walk, Kelly had a week’s rest after her start was postponed due to a rainout and pitched a perfect game.
Facing the Lotte bats, Kelly quickly got out of trouble in the first inning. She gave up a leadoff double to Ahn Kwon-soo, but with the help of catcher Park Dong-won, she was able to throw Ahn out at second base. He then struck out center fielder Ahn Chi-hong with the bases loaded.
Kelly, who struck out Yoon Dong-hee, Seung-min Go, and Jung Jung-geun in the next two innings for a perfect triple play, gave up a walk to Ahn Kwon-soo with two outs in the third, but got out of the jam by getting Kim Min-seok to fly out to center field.
The streak continued. After giving up a leadoff single to Lee Jung-hoon in the top of the fourth, he retired the next three batters without a walk, and in the bottom of the fifth, he retired the bottom of the batting order of Lee Jung-geun, Noh Jin-hyuk, and Goodrum. The Lotte bats were unable to capitalize on Kelly’s dominance. By the fifth inning, Kelly had only thrown 75 pitches.스포츠토토
In the sixth inning, he continued his stellar outing with a triple play and left the mound earlier than expected with 85 pitches. With a three-run lead, LG turned to its bullpen. It was a calculated move on the part of the LG bench to not overwork Kelly and let him come down when it was best for him.
Kelly’s no-hitter was his first of the season. He has pitched one scoreless inning, but never a no-hitter. It’s been 26 games since he threw a six-inning no-hitter against the Doosan Bears on Sept. 13 last year.