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"Complaint? I didn't care, it heated me up"...Passionate, but calm, Gatchez. Will he be a real ace 스포츠토토

He remained steadfast in his opposition. KIA Tigers' new foreign pitcher Mario Sanchez (29) is passionate, but he has successfully made his KBO League debut by calmly playing the game at his pace.

Sanchez made his debut in the match against the kt Wiz of the '2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League' held at Suwon kt Wiz Park on the 9th. It has been four days since he joined KIA on the 6th.

Sanchez's strong pitching continued from the beginning of the game. He cooked the kt lineup using various pitches such as four-seam fastball, sweeper, slider, and curve in the mid- to late 140km/h.

There was also a slight happening in the middle of the game. Ahead of the end of the fourth inning, kt appealed to Sanchez's pitching form. The reason was that the movement of the left leg was not constant when pitching. For this reason, Choi Soo-won, head of the referee team, visited KIA coaches and cautioned Sanchez's pitching movement, saying, "If the same movement is repeated, I will judge it with a ball."

Still, Sanchez was unshakable. After one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, Lee Ho-yeon scored his first run after a solo shot over the right fence, but he showed a steady pitch until after one out in the bottom of the seventh inning and tied the opponent's batters tightly. His final performance was 5 hits (1 home run), 4 walks, 10 strikeouts, and 1 run in 6⅓ innings. He led the team to a 5-1 victory and made his debut with a good start (less than three earned runs in six innings) from his debut.

After the game, Sanchez said, "I feel really good. "I hope the season continues as it is now," he said adding, "Today (9th), the sweeper was confident, and I used it to strike out a lot."

Protests regarding the pitching form of the opponent's bench, which could have been somewhat sensitive to the pitcher. Sanchez expressed his thoughts. "(The opponent's complaint) I tried not to care at all. "On the contrary, I threw it with confidence because that (the opponent's protest) made me hotter," he said.

When reporters asked Sanchez, "How many points can he give before his debut," he replied, "It's 90 points." "It's 90 points because I gave one point. "However, regardless of my performance, it's good if the team can win," he said with a smile.

KIA's previous foreign pitcher Adonis Medina showed anxiety in control and failed to do his part as a foreign pitcher due to a significant drop in innings. Now it's his first start, but Sanchez was definitely different. He showed a clean performance by not giving up a single walk with stable control. He also proved his ace qualification by maintaining calmness even in situations where he could easily get excited during the game.

Meanwhile, KIA won five consecutive games with the victory, raising its ranking one notch to sixth place (35 wins, 1 draw, 38 losses). Sanchez made his debut with a perfect pitch.