Daniel Castano, a foreign pitcher for the NC Dinos of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO), talked about his perfect game in his final exhibition game.
Castano started the exhibition game against SSG Landers at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on April 19 and pitched five innings of two-hit ball with one walk and five strikeouts. NC used a balanced offense to defeat SSG 7-2.
Castano induced the first batter, Park Ji-hwan, to ground out to first base and gave up a single to Choo Shin-soo, but retired Choi Jung-jeong and Han Yu-seom in succession. In the second inning, he struck out Heredia, Ko Myung-joon, and Oh Tae-gon on eight pitches. After striking out leadoff batter Lee Ji-young in the third, Castano retired Kim Sung-hyun and Park Ji-hwan on a pitcher's choice and a catcher's strikeout, respectively.
After shutting down SSG's centerpiece bats of Choo Shin-soo, Choi Jung-jeong, and Han Yoo-seom in the fourth, Castano gave up back-to-back singles to Heredia and Ko Myung-joon in the fifth to put runners on first and second with no outs, but induced Choi Ji-hoon to fly out to second base and then got Lee Ji-young to pop out to shortstop. Castano turned the mound to Song Myung-ki in the sixth inning with a three-run lead.
"Today, if nothing else, I was focused on working on my strike zone command and my 토토사이트 changeup. I tried to be aggressive with my fastballs and adjust to the strike zone," Castano said.
"I think I'll need time to adjust to the Korean baseball mound. I think my two-seam fastball, slider, and cut fastball need a little more movement on the Korean mound," he added.
"I was able to induce ground balls with my two-seam fastball, so I was able to get through the game well, and it was nice to have good teammates. I had some good help from my defense, which made it a good game. I'm looking forward to continuing to do well in the regular season."
"Castano pitched well for five innings, and Song Myung-ki, Han Jae-seung, Ryu Jin-wook, and Lee Yong-chan pitched well afterward," said Kang. "In the batting lineup, Park Min-woo's performance and Lee Jae-hwan's home run were crucial to the victory, and all of our batters are in good form."
"We did a good job of checking all aspects in the last game. I would like to thank our fans for their support in the cold weather today."