A strong performance by a substitute foreign pitcher saved the day.

A strong performance by a substitute foreign pitcher saved the day.

The SSG Landers won 7-3 against the Samsung Lions in Incheon on Friday. A day earlier, SSG had suffered a blowout loss at Samsung Electronics on the 4th. After escaping from an eight-game losing streak, the team raised its spirits with four consecutive wins, but a combination of batting silence and poor pitching led to a 1-3 reverse.

Foreign pitcher Drew Anderson stepped in to save the day. Anderson started the game against Samsung on May 5 and got off to a quality start, allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits, one walk and 10 strikeouts in six innings.

He gave up a two-run lead in the top of the second inning on a throwing error in right field. After that run, the offense didn't allow another run until the sixth inning. Anderson's six innings of shutout baseball gave SSG a chance to fight back. A five-run fifth inning gave SSG a 7-3 victory and Anderson his second win of the season.

It was his second straight quality start and second straight win in his last two games. Anderson, who joined the team as a replacement foreign player for Robert Duggar, was limited in his pitches in the first three games. 안전놀이터 He had been preparing to pitch in the minors this season as a reliever, not a starter, so he couldn't throw close to 100 pitches right away, so he treated the first three games as a “buildup” and only pitched three, three, and four innings. It was a period of adjustment to the unfamiliar KBO.

But in the last two games, when he was able to pitch his normal number of innings, he pitched back-to-back strong games. More importantly, the team won both games.

SSG didn't want to wait any longer to replace Dugger after the ambitious signing struggled mightily this season, going 0-3 with a 12.71 ERA in six games. They made the quickest decision in the league this season to replace a foreign player, which allowed them to bring in Anderson, who was highly coveted by other teams.

So far, the move has been a success. Anderson, a powerful and reliable pitcher, has been the centerpiece of the rotation. While the tired Kim Kwang-hyun is taking a break from the rotation, Anderson has been the “ace” during that time, and the newest addition, Keisho Shirakawa, has also picked up the pace with a debut win. Won-seok “Young Gun” Oh and Young-jin Song are also becoming more and more reliable.