It was perfect.
Kiwoom Heroes foreign pitcher Yariel Furado’s shoulders are heavy. The starting rotation is not what it was at the start of the season. Eric Yokishi left the team due to injury, and Choi Won-tae went to the LG Twins via trade. Chan-heon Jung, who joined the rotation during the season, is also on the mend.
On top of that, the news broke on the 2nd that specialty ace Ahn Woo-jin is out for the season. In the near future, Ahn will undergo a reconstruction of the medial collateral ligament in his right elbow (Tommy John surgery).
Prior to this game, Hurado only had eight wins on the season, but his record was otherwise nutritious. He had 16 quality starts (6 innings or less) and a 2.84 ERA, and except for April (3.14), his ERA never exceeded three runs. He hasn’t had much luck, but he has consistently pitched at least five innings in every game. Not once did he fail to complete five innings.
On this day, Hurado was perfect. Kiwoom was missing all of its batting core, including Lee Jung-hoo and Ahn Woo-jin, but the team was on a three-game winning streak with its current resources performing admirably.
Hurado may have been influenced by his teammates’ upswing, as he pitched a perfect game from the first inning. After striking out the side in the first inning, he walked Park Byung-ho, the leadoff hitter in the second inning, and gave up a single to Hwang Jae-gyun. It was the only run Furado allowed on the day. The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth innings were all triple play innings, starting with a swinging strikeout of Oh Yoon-seok, the next batter after Hwang Jae-gyun. After Hwang’s walk, 14 consecutive batters reached base.
Furado took the mound in the seventh inning. After working an 11-pitch at-bat, he flied out to center field and then got Choi Seong-ho, who was batting in place of Alford, to fly out to left field.
Hurado then handed the mound over to Yoon Seok-won with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning as his team led 7-0. The Kiwoom fans in attendance at the Gocheokdome gave Hurado an encouraging round of applause as he walked off the mound.
On the day, Hurado pitched 6.2 innings of one-hit ball, striking out eight and walking none. He threw 99 pitches. If his pitch count hadn’t been close to 100, we might have seen him back on the mound in the next inning.안전놀이터
Thanks to Hurado’s perfect game, Kiwoom swept KT 7-0 to extend their winning streak to four games. Even though their dreams of fall baseball are far away, the Heroes are still trying to climb out of last place and into a position where they can.
With the win, Hurado improved to 9-8, just one win shy of 10. He also lowered his ERA to 2.72, placing him sixth in ERA and on the verge of breaking into the top five.
They don’t have Ahn Woo-jin, they don’t have Yokishi, they don’t have Chung Chan-heon, they don’t have Choi Won-tae, but they do have Furado.
Furado is the ace in the hole, and he doesn’t deserve that title at all.