Refer Report
ML wild card match begins
Are you watching, Yankees? San Diego pitcher Michael King starts and throws the ball as hard as he can in the wild card series against Atlanta held at Petco Park on the 2nd. San Diego | AFP Yonhap News
San Diego 4-0 to Atlanta
Tatis Jr. two-run home run ‘excited’
King wins the first game with perfect pitching
Take on the momentum and challenge the Division Series
A long-standing curiosity about fall baseball. Is experience more important, or is ambition and momentum more important?
The 2024 Major League fall baseball season opened on the 2nd with four wild card games for both major leagues. As the importance of the first match of the best-of-three series grew, spirit and spirit were stronger than experience.
Although Kim Ha-seong was missing due to shoulder surgery, San Diego won 4-0 in the first game of the National League Wild Card (WC) game against Atlanta held at Petco Park on the 2nd with starter Michael King’s good pitch and Fernando Tatis Jr.’s first-place two-run home run. .
Tatis Jr., who started as number 2 and right fielder, hit Atlanta starter AJ Smithshover’s fastball inside the first pitch with no outs on first base in the bottom of the first inning when the score was 0-0, creating a two-run home run that flew over the left-center wall at Petco Park. It was a home run that made all 47,647 people, the largest audience since the opening of Petco Park, jump out of their seats.
“Our fans are really great,” Tatis Jr. said after the game. “It was a lucky home run, but the atmosphere was on fire thanks to the fans’ enthusiasm,” he said.
Tatis Jr. hit the final home run, but the hero of the victory was Michael King, who started that day. King, who was making his first postseason start after his debut, pinned down Atlanta’s strike line by sharply throwing a fastball with strong movement left and right low in the strike zone. King struck out 12 batters, giving up 5 hits and no runs over 7 innings.
King, a pitcher received when slugger Juan Soto was traded to the New York Yankees in December of last year, took on the role of starting Game 1 despite having no postseason starting experience, and was responsible for the important first game victory with perfect pitching.
King said in a recent interview, “I will make the Yankees regret sending me away,” and he proved that promise with a good pitch in Game 1. In an interview after the game, King said, “The importance of the first game and the enthusiastic support of our fans helped me focus.” It’s passion and spirit.
Even in the American League, a passionate rookie changed the atmosphere. Kansas City starter Cole Reagans started the first game of the WC against Baltimore on this day and pitched 6 innings, allowing 4 hits and no runs. Even though his opponent’s starting pitcher was Corbin Burns, one of the best pitchers in the league, he was not intimidated and played a big role in his first postseason game after his debut, leading the team to a 1-0 victory.
Of course, the ‘overwhelming ace’ is the strongest weapon of fall baseball. Detroit Tarik Skubal, who won the American League pitcher triple crown this season (leading in ERA, most wins, and strikeouts), started the first game of the WC against Houston and pitched 6 innings, allowing 4 hits and no runs, leading the team to a 3-1 victory. .
In another National League series, the New York Mets came back from behind to win 8-4 over Milwaukee. The flow of the game changed in the top of the 5th inning when the team was down 3-4 with 2 outs and runners on 1st and 2nd when Jose Iglesias hit a grounder to first base and then made a save with a body slide. With two outs, runner Tyrone Taylor on second base came all the way home, tying the game. “At that moment, the atmosphere of the game changed,” JD Martinez said. Fall baseball is about spirit and spirit.
Since the introduction of the best-of-three wild card system in Major League Baseball, the team that won the first game out of 16 series advanced to the division series 14 times.
Source: Korean