Giants pitcher gets standing ovation

Lotte Giants pitcher Noh Kyung-eun is set to bunt at home plate in the fourth inning against the Nexen Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome on Friday. The pitcher played as designated hitter as well due to his team’s technical mistake to inform the Korea Baseball Organization in advance of its lineup change. / Yonhap

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Lotte Giants pitcher Noh Kyung-eun received a standing ovation from 7,800 baseball fans at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Friday as he left the mound for his team’s dugout after fulfilling his mission as a starter.

After pitching 102 balls, he was replaced by teammate Jang Si-hwan in the seventh inning when the Giants were chasing fiercely the Nexen Heroes which led the game 2-1.

Those baseball fans stood up to show their respect for him for his successful fulfillment of the daunting job as a pitcher and a designated hitter.

Noh, 33, had near perfect pitching as a starter — he allowed only four hits, three bases on balls and struck out six Heroes hitters during the six innings. It was his season’s first start as a starting pitcher. He pitched in five previous games as a closer this season.

Noh was called upon to pitch on Friday because his team had no reliable starters to pitch as two foreign-born pitchers were sent to the minor Futures League. The Giants starters were battered in previous games, causing the team to suffer a five-game losing streak this week. Some described this as “the meltdown of Giants starters.”

Noh’s pitching was solid.

But what moved the baseball fans at Gocheok Sky Dome was his sincere attitude toward his mission in the game. Noh appeared at bat twice as the cleanup hitter for the first time since he debuted to the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League in 2002.

The awkward scene of a pitcher playing as a designated hitter simultaneously was the unintended result caused by manager Cho Won-woo’s failure to inform the KBO in advance of the last-minute switch of his team’s designated hitter.

Cho initially submitted to the KBO a list of players to play in the game, which had slugger Choi Joon-suk as the designated hitter and Lee Dae-ho as the first baseman. But Cho later changed his mind as he felt the need to give Lee a rest. So the manager replaced Lee with Choi on first base in the last minute, forgetting about his duty to give prior notice about this to the KBO scorekeeper.

Nexen Heroes manager Jang Jung-seok recognized the mismatch between the batting order list and the Giants’ actual defensive alignment and complained about it to the umpire. His protest was accepted. Under the KBO rule, the pitcher automatically becomes a designated hitter if the hitter takes a defensive position.

Noh appeared at bat twice — first in the fourth inning and next in the sixth inning. The results were miserable. In the fourth inning, he tried hard to bunt to get his teammates who were on first and second to advance. His effort went in vain and he was struck out. In his second appearance at home plate in the sixth inning, he was even more serious and stared at the Heroes pitcher in an effort to pull together a hit. He was struck out again.

His attitude, however, impressed the spectators at the ballpark. They cheered for Noh and gave him a big round of applause whenever the pitcher stood at home plate. Their encouragement continued even when Noh was struck out.

Among some baseball fans, Noh is known as a man of integrity and his strong reputation was behind their encouragement for the pitcher.

Internet users praised Noh for his impressive role as a team player. Chicken and Cider wrote Noh set an example for other players. “Other KBO players should follow him,” he wrote. “We know who he is. He’s the man who had the courage to say no to wrong practices.”

Chicken and Cider was referring to Noh’s confrontation and standing up against allegedly abusive practices by his former team — the Doosan Bears — before he was traded to the Giants in June of last year. He reportedly had uncomfortable relationship with Bears manager Kim Tae-hyeong while he was pitching for the team and his ties with the manager soured.

In April last year, the Bears suddenly announced Noh’s retirement and said he tendered his resignation. In a media interview in May last year, however, Noh denied this and said he had never even mentioned resigning and he was still eager to pitch. He disclosed in detail how his relationship with the Bears manager had worsened. He said he endured and tried to follow all the insulting requests from the coaching staff. According to him, he was requested to fix his pitching technique three times, which was considered an insult to a veteran pitcher like him, but he said he followed such requests because he was eager to pitch. His pitching against the Samsung Lions as a closer on June 17 last year led to a catastrophic result. He allowed then Lions’ slugger Choi Hyeong-woo to hit a grand slam and his team was routed by the Lions. After the game, Noh claimed he was harshly criticized and insulted by manager Kim about his pitching that day.

Noh was traded to the Giants after his uncomfortable relationship with the manager were made public. The Giants coaching staff, who then were wrestling with shortages of quality pitchers, proposed the trade with the Bears between Ko Won-jun and Noh which the Bears accepted.