Kim Kwang-hyun records 1,500 career strikeouts

St. Louis Cardinals’ left-handed pitcher Kim Kwang-hyun threw some good pitching in his fifth outing this season, helping his team win a fourth straight victory. In a road game against the Milwaukee Brewers played at American Family Field in Wisconsin on Tuesday, Kim allowed one run, five hits, and one walk while striking out six during five and one third innings. Although he failed to pick up his second win of the season, Kim lowered his ERA from 3.06 to 2.74.

Despite some good pitching, Kim was on the verge of suffering his first MLB loss on Wednesday because he was pulled in the sixth inning when the team was losing 0-1.

However, Kim celebrated his 1,500 career strikeouts. Having 1,456 strikeouts in KBO and 42 strikeouts in MLB before Wednesday, Kim recorded his 1,500th career strikeout by striking out Lorenzo Cain and Travis Shaw in the first inning. Kim had 9.39 strikeouts per nine innings pitched this season, up from last season’s 5.54.

Kim threw 37 four-seam fastballs, 31 sliders, 12 change-ups, and eight curveballs among 88 pitches. He threw more changeups (14% of his total pitches) on Tuesday than his average (8.3%), seemingly a decision to catch the Brewers hitters off guard. The average velocity of Kim’s fastballs was 89.2mph on the day, slightly up from 89mph recorded on May 6 against the New York Mets. After the match, Kim said in an interview that he was in better shape than he had been in two previous matches and he wanted to throw more innings but things did not go the way he wanted in the sixth inning.


Hong-Gu Kang windup@donga.com