Baseball’s SSG Landers Robert Duggar, 28, narrowly missed out on his first win as a professional, but delivered his best pitching performance since arriving in Korea.
Dugger started the 2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League game against the Kia Tigers at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on April 18, allowing one run on three hits with one walk and three strikeouts in five innings.
After a clean start with a strikeout in the top of the first inning, Dugger failed to catch Choi Hyung-woo’s leadoff single in the second inning. The hit was recorded as a throwing error on Dugger’s part. After striking out Socrates Brito, Dugger induced a grounder to Lee Woo-sung at third base to nab the leadoff runner. Seo gave up a hit to Gun-chang Seo, but he got out of the jam by striking out Han Jun-soo.
After striking out again in the third inning, Dugger was hit by a pitch to lead off the fourth inning and walked Choi Hyung-woo to put runners on first and second with no outs. Socrates flied out to center field, but Kim advanced to second, putting runners on first and third, and Lee Woo-sung’s grounder to third brought Kim home to cut the deficit to one run. But Seo got Gun-chang Seo to fly out to left field to end the threat.
After Han Jun-soo led off the fifth with a double, Dugger got Lee Chang-jin to ground out to shortstop. He then struck out Park Chan-ho and got Choi Won-joon to fly out to center field to end the inning. With SSG leading 5-1 in the sixth inning, Cho was replaced by Byung-hyun Cho to end the inning. SSG tied the game at 5-5 in the sixth inning, but Dugger was able to hold on for a 7-5 victory and a three-game midweek series sweep.
Duggar threw 81 pitches, including a two-seam (32), slider (14), fastball (13), curve (12), changeup (8), and sweeper (2). His fastball topped out at 150 miles per hour, and his two-seam fastball touched 148 miles per hour. While his pitches weren’t the ones that struck hitters down, he used a variety of pitches to keep them off-balance and effectively shut them down for five innings.
Duggar pitched his worst game in the NC on June 6. He allowed 14 runs (13 earned) on 12 hits, four walks, three strikeouts and four wild pitches in three innings, tying him for the most runs allowed in KBO history. Duggar made headlines when he was seen crying in the dugout after the second inning. He also struggled against KT on Dec. 12, giving up four runs on four hits (one home run) with two walks and two strikeouts in one inning.
Duggar rebounded with his best pitching performance since his worst outing, and although he was unable to record his first win, he said in a postgame interview, “I’m okay with it because I pitched well enough for me personally. I’m happy for the team because the 바카라사이트 team won,” he said, adding, “KIA had a lot of aggressive hitters throughout the game. I thought I had to work the count with my fastball and changeup,” he said of his game plan.
“Of course, I wanted to go one more inning,” said Duggar, who didn’t throw many pitches but was replaced. But I thought it was better to come out with confidence and be ready for the next game. I followed the manager’s advice and came off the mound,” Dugger said of the substitution.
SSG quickly scored five runs in the first inning, thanks to a two-run homer by Han Yu-seom and a three-run shot by Guillermo Heredia in the second. This allowed Dugger to pitch more comfortably. “Obviously, the hitters scoring early in the game gave me a lot of confidence,” Duggar said. “It definitely gave me a lot of confidence to pitch early in the game,” said Dugger, who thanked the hitters for allowing him to be aggressive with his pitches.
Game 6 of the NCAAs is a painful memory for Duggar. “It was probably the worst game of my career,” he said, “I just kept reminding myself that baseball is a sport of failure. You’re going to have bad days and you’re going to have good days,” he said of his mindset in overcoming his worst pitching performance.
“I wasn’t trying to cry,” Duggar said of his self-pitying performance in the NC, “I was just trying to get through it. I was just mentally exhausted after the game. I felt like I really didn’t know where I was going, but I had to keep reminding myself that I’m a good pitcher. I thought about why SSG brought me and tried to pitch well again.”
As for adjusting to life in Korea, Duggar said, “It’s nice that Korea has playgrounds for babies to play in. Even if I’m at the ballpark, my wife and kids can play together,” he said, adding that he is happy with his life in Korea.