Seoul: With a typically tidy performance Wednesday night, Samsung Lions starter Ariel Jurado won his first game back at his old stomping ground against his former team. Jurado limited the Kiwoom Heroes to a run on five hits in six innings, as the Lions prevailed 6-1 at Gocheok Sky Dome in their Korea Baseball Organization showdown. Jurado struck out four and walked one.
According to Yonhap News Agency, this was Jurado's first game back at the dome since he signed with the Lions in December, following two years with the Heroes. The right-hander from Panama had gone 21-16 with a 3.01 ERA in 60 games for the Heroes before the Seoul-based team let him walk, so that they could give young, homegrown starters a chance to pitch in a rebuilding 2025 season.
The Lions, in a "win-now" mode, pounced on the proven ace, and Jurado has delivered so far. With Wednesday's win, Jurado improved to 4-4 and lowered his ERA from 2.47 to 2.39, the lowest in the Lions rotation. The Lions improved to 23-25-1 (wins-losses-ties) thanks to their first winning streak of May.
"I am happy to have pitched well today. We've won back-to-back games now, and I hope we can keep this streak going," Jurado said. "We'd love to get back to where we were in the standings."
Jurado had won his season debut on March 22 against the Heroes but that game was at the Lions' home in the southeastern city of Daegu. Jurado gave up two runs on eight hits across six innings then. He was even better Wednesday.
Leadoff man Song Sung-mun had three of the Heroes' five hits against Jurado, who kept most others at bay. Song opened the game with a single and advanced to second on a passed ball by catcher Kang Min-ho. But Jurado retired the next three batters to escape the early trouble.
After retiring the side in the second inning, Jurado gave up a two-out single to Song in the third inning. But Song was stranded when Lee Ju-hyoung hit a dribbler that Kang picked up right in front of the plate.
After the Lions opened the scoring with two runs in the top fourth, Song's third hit of the night produced the Heroes' only run of the game in the bottom fifth inning. Jurado regrouped and retired the final five batters he faced before the bullpen took over. Three relievers each threw a scoreless inning to make a winner out of Jurado, who left the game with the Lions up 3-1. They added two runs in the eighth and another in the ninth.
Jurado threw 102 pitches - the seventh time in 11 outings that he topped the century mark -- with 71 of them for strikes. He mixed in six different types of pitches -- 37 four-seam fastballs, 18 changeups, 18 two-seam fastballs, 13 curveballs, 13 sliders and three cutters.
"I think I was able to pitch well because I am familiar with the mound here at Gocheok," Jurado said. "And being here with new teammates made this game even more special. I want to focus on things that I can control going forward and eat up as many innings as I can for the team."