He couldn’t stop his team from falling.
Charlie Barnes of the Lotte Giants started Game 2 of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League against the Kium Heroes at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Wednesday, but struggled, allowing four runs on seven hits and three walks with six strikeouts in six innings.
Barnes is in his third season in the KBO.
In his first start of the season, on March 26 against the Gwangju KIA Tigers, he pitched 6 innings with 4 hits (1 HR), 3 walks, 6 strikeouts, and 1 earned run, but struggled against the Nordic City and the Busan NC Dinos on March 31 with 3.2 innings of 5 hits, 6 walks, 3 strikeouts, and 5 earned runs.
Against the Doosan Bears on March 7, he recorded his second QS of the season with 6 innings, 6 hits (1 HR), 1 walk, 5 strikeouts, and 2 runs, but was unable to get the win as the offense did not help. His season record is three games without a win and a 4.60 ERA.
The team had lost four straight games prior to this game, and the previous day, Park Sae-woong had been roughed up for seven runs (six earned) in four innings, so Barnes’ performance was much needed. Barnes has appeared in 12 games against Kiwoom so far. He is 4-3 with a 3.44 ERA. In six games at the Gocheok Dome, he is 3-1 with a 2.10 ERA.
The first inning was a good start. After getting Lee Yong-kyu, who had a 100% OPS the day before, to hit a line drive to shortstop, he gave up a single to Ronnie Dawson and struck out Kim Hye-sung on a fly ball to left field and Choi Joo-hwan.
In the second inning, Lee Hyung-jong and Lee Won-seok singled and Kim Hwijip walked, but Park Jun-hyung struck out swinging.
In the third inning, the crisis came. Lee Jae-sang singled to lead off the inning. Lee Yong-gyu laid down a sacrifice bunt to put runners on first and second. Dawson’s fly moved Lee to third. Kim Hye-sung singled to center, putting runners on second and third. Choi Ju-hwan gave up a long, tying RBI single to center field. He then gave up a walk to Lee Hyung-jong, and four pitches in a row to Lee Won-seok for a pushing double. It wasn’t over yet. Kim gave up a double to center field. That made it 1-4. The long third inning came to an end when Park struck out Jun-hyung Park on a grounder to short.
In the fourth inning, the crisis didn’t end. Lee Jae-sang, the leadoff hitter, was hit again. Lee Yong-kyu was hit by a pitch, but Lee Jae-sang’s overthrow left one runner 토토사이트 stranded. Dawson grounded out to first base, putting runners at second and third. He got Kim Hye-sung to ground out to second to end the inning.
The fifth inning was clean. Choi Ju-hwan and Lee Hyung-jong both walked. Lee Won-seok struck out swinging. It was the first three-hit inning of the game. The sixth inning was also clean. Kim struck out Kim Hui-jip and Joo Sung-won, and Lee Jae-sang grounded out to third base.
That was it for Barnes. He allowed four runs on seven hits and three walks with six strikeouts in six innings. His ERA went from 4.60 to 4.98. He threw 102 pitches. He threw 31 fastballs, 27 changeups, 23 sliders, 16 two-seamers, and five curves. His fastball topped out at 149 mph.
Barnes suffered his first loss as the team fell to 1-8 on the day. Lotte has lost five straight games and is still in last place in the league.
Barnes finished with double-digit wins on the mound for the second consecutive season, going 12-12 with a 3.62 ERA in 31 games and 186.1 innings in 2022 and 11-10 with a 3.28 ERA in 30 games and 170.1 innings in 2023. He also pitched 356.2 innings over the past two years, the second-most in the league, and was particularly steady in the second half of the 2023 season, leading the league with a 2.05 ERA. He re-signed for a total of $1.35 million, including $1.2 million guaranteed and $150,000 in incentives.
However, in four appearances this season, he has no wins and an ERA of 4.98, which is nearly five. The loss of Barnes after Park Se-woong the day before is sure to make Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung sigh.