Wasn’t the ‘cool weather’ useless… McKinney was still ‘below expectations’

• allforyouclick
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• on Aug 13, 2023

Kiwoom Heroes foreign pitcher Ian McKinney failed to win the away game again this time. The temperature was relatively cool compared to his recent appearances, but the cool weather didn’t help much either.

Kiwoom lost 4-8 in the 14th game of the season against the LG Twins in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League held at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the 12th, and fell into a pit of three consecutive losses.

McKinney, who had a head-to-head matchup with Choi Won-tae, took his 6th loss of the season with 6 hits (1 home run), 3 walks, 2 strikeouts and 5 runs in 5 innings. No win in 4 games in the second half. In particular, McKinney, who had been sluggish with an average ERA of 8.59 in 3 games, 14⅔ innings and 3 losses on the road before the match, still couldn’t overcome the ‘away jinx’.

Among various analyzes of McKinney’s sluggishness, one of them was ‘hot weather’. He was of the opinion that he was struggling physically while playing outdoors at his home stadium, Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. In addition, McKinney, who sweats a lot, had to ‘fight against the heat’ from the beginning of the game.

Fortunately, the temperature was not that high that day compared to usual, and the sun was not strong as dark clouds were set. A cool breeze also blew. There was no problem with the weather in playing the game. This was good news for McKinney, who was prone to heat.메이저놀이터

Was the heat really a problem? At the end of the first inning, McKinney, who scored with Kim Hyun-soo’s 1 RBI and double, seemed to continue cruising by blocking the bottom of the 2nd and 3rd innings with no runs. The batting line piled up the score one by one with Song Seong-moon’s 1 RBI and timely hit in the top of the 1st inning, and Kim Tae-jin’s 1 RBI and timely hit in the 4th inning.

However, McKinney gave up a walk to lead hitter Austin Dean at the bottom of the 4th inning with a 2-1 lead, then contributed a run with Oh Ji-hwan’s double, followed by Park Dong-won’s sacrifice fly at third base. At the end of the 5th inning, Austin hit a big two-run four from 2nd and 1st base, widening the gap between the two teams to 3 points.

In the end, the bullpen had to bear the burden, and Kiwoom had to face defeat despite the efforts of the hitters. As a result, the weather was not the main cause of the sluggishness. When will McKinney find a breakthrough?