Seo’s “Artistic Pitching”

Seo Jae-eung (30, Tampa Bay) rescued his sinking team with his sharp control. He stepped onto the mound as the starting pitcher in a Major League Baseball (MLB) away game against Toronto on May 14 at the Toronto Rogers Center in Ontario, Canada. Seo pitched well, allowing only two hits and no runs during seven innings of work, securing his second win (three losses, ERA 7.26). Tampa Bay won 2-1.

Seo led his team to victory with perfect pitching, striking out seven players with his offspeed pitches aimed at the corners. Out of 102 pitches, 61 were strikes.

Since his first win of the season against Cleveland on April 22, he has added another win after his fourth appearance on the mound. He also stopped his team’s losing streak at six. It has been a year since he started and pitched a scoreless winning game, the last time being April 29 last year, when he pitched six innings while shutting out San Diego as a member of the L.A. Dodgers. With this, Seo Jae-eung has started his 100th career game since making his debut in the major league with the New York Mets in 2002, and has earned his 27th victory (29 losses, ERA 4.47).

On this day’s game, Seo Jae-eung retired three batters in the third inning with strike outs, starting with the first batter Jason Phillips, and moving on to Ryan Roberts and Adam Lind. Also in the fourth inning, Seo got three players to retire quickly with a combination of strike outs and poor batting. In the fifth inning, he allowed a double to Royce Clayton and was at the risk of giving up a run, but got out of the jam by inducing the next batter, Phillips, to pop up to center field.

In an interview with “MLB.COM,” Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said, “He (Seo) pitched well when the team really needed it after our six-game losing streak. He had good speed and control of the ball.”

beetlez@donga.com