Kiwoom Heroes foreign pitcher Ian McKinney had one of his worst Augusts.
McKinney started a game against SSG Landers in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on Aug. 30, giving up seven runs (six earned) on 10 hits (one home run), three walks (two wild pitches, one hit by pitch), and one strikeout in 3.2 innings to take his eighth loss of the season.
McKinney didn’t have it easy in the first inning. He gave up a leadoff walk to Shin-Soo Choo and a single to Choi Jeong to put runners on first and third. He gave up an RBI single to Guillermo Heredia and walked Park Sung-ho, but was rocked by another RBI single to Ha Jae-hoon.
The runs continued in the second inning. Kang Min-seong, the leadoff hitter, singled up the middle. Cho Hyung-woo grounded out to second, but Choo Shin-soo was hit by a pitch, Choi Ji-hoon was hit by a pitch, and Ronnie Dawson’s throwing error allowed another run to score.
In the third inning, he bowed out. Heredia and Park gave up back-to-back singles. With runners on first and second, he faced Ha Jae-hoon. He threw a 138-kilometer fastball to Jae-hoon Ha, and it went over the left field fence for a three-run homer.
He came back for the fourth inning, but couldn’t get out of the inning. He was good until he got leadoff hitter Shin-Soo Choo to fly out to third base. He gave up a triple to Choi Ji-hoon and a walk to Choi Jeong before giving up a sacrifice fly to Heredia. He then gave up an infield single to Park Sung-ho before turning the mound over to Yang Hyun. Yang didn’t allow another run, and McKinney’s score didn’t rise any higher.
McKinney’s August was as bad as it gets. In six starts, he went winless and lost five with a 10.59 ERA. He struggled to go five innings, let alone win. Only three of those six games went five innings. He was nowhere near the kind of innings you’d expect from a starter.토토사이트
McKinney, who was brought up to replace Eric Yokish, started the year 1-3 with a 3.60 ERA, but has struggled mightily in the second half, going 5-7 with an 8.91 ERA. Notably, he hasn’t allowed a single home run in the first half of the season, but nine in the second half alone. He has been hit by a home run in every game in the second half.
In a recent interview, Kiwoom coach Hong Won-ki said, “The pitches are coming down the middle. He’s not a 150-plus mph fireballer. I have to fight with my fastball in the 140s and my changeup, but it’s in the middle.” “It’s easy prey for the opposing team’s bats. Our batsmen have improved a lot. Their power has improved. They’re turning pitches up the middle into in-play hits. McKinney is struggling,” he said.
Currently, Kiwoom is at the bottom of the league with 47 wins, 70 losses and three draws. The bats are doing their job. Again, they managed 16 hits and seven runs against the SSG mound. But the bullpen is the problem, especially the starters, who are weaker than they were at the beginning of the season. Only Ahn Woo-jin and Ariel Hurtado are doing their job. Choi Won-tae is gone, and Jeong Chan-heon is facing surgery for an injury. McKinney, who replaced Yokish, is also struggling.
McKinney had a terrible August. Can September be a different story?