“It’s the first time I’ve played an official match with Park Dong-won (33), but I’m making good chemistry and relationships through practice games. There’s no problem with breathing.”

Casey Kelly (34), a foreign pitcher for the LG Twins, drew attention with his neat pitching from the first appearance in the demonstration game. Kelly started on the 18th in a confrontation with the Lotte Giants in the ‘2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League Demonstration Game’ held at Sajik Stadium in Busan.스포츠토토

The beginning of the game was a bit shaky. In the bottom of the first inning, he gave up an infield hit to lead batter Kim Min-seok, and in the bottom of the second inning, lead batter Han Dong-hee and Go Seung-min hit consecutive hits, facing a crisis. Whenever the flow was bad, Kelly’s unique ability to escape from a crisis stood out. In the 1st inning, he caught An Chi-hong with a double hit in the direction of shortstop, 2nd baseman, and 1st baseman.

At the end of the second inning, Jeon Jun-woo (3rd base grounder), Roh Jin-hyeok (2nd base grounder), and Lee Jung-hoon (catcher strike not out) took out counts at the 1st and 2nd bases. Although he gave up a run to third base runner when Roh Jin-hyeok grounded from second base, he got out of danger himself by catching subsequent hitters.

In the 3rd and 4th innings, with stable pitches, the opponent’s batting line was turned around and the game ended without a run. Kelly’s final performance was 4 hits, 4 hits, 4 walks, 1 strikeout and 1 run in 4 innings. He helped his team win 7-2.

LG coach Yeom Kyung-yeop also praised him, saying, “Kelly threw various breaking balls and played a good game with a well-prepared appearance.”

Kelly was very satisfied with his first appearance in the exhibition game after the game. “Above all, I am happy to show what I prepared for during the spring camp. It was good to play a good game, and I was able to win thanks to the good performances of the fielders in offense and defense. It is an exhibition game, but winning is always good,” he said.

“Today (18th), I decided to throw 4 innings and went up. I am satisfied with 4 innings, and other than that, rather than being particularly satisfied, I believe that I will continue to improve in the future because I am still in the preparation process. There may not be, but I tried to score the minimum number of points in a crisis today. This part seems to have been a good practice for the regular league as well.”

Kelly was also satisfied with the performance with Park Dong-won, who was in sync with the battery. Park Dong-won wore the LG uniform as a free agent (FA) transfer this season. Total with the new catcher, but Kelly gave the thumbs up. She smiled, saying, “It’s my first time playing an official match with Park Dong-won, but I’ve been building good chemistry and relationships through practice matches. There’s no problem with breathing at all.”

Kelly won 16 last year and became the most victorious champion. And she’s showing her power from the first game of her new season, raising expectations for her.