Oh Seung-hwan of the St. Louis Cardinals tossed 1 1/3 shutout innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday (local time), further reinforcing his status as a reliable relief pitcher.
Oh took the mound as the team's third pitcher in the top seventh at Dodger Stadium, with the Cardinals trailing 5-1. The South Korean righty collected two strikeouts in 1 1/3 innings, lowering his ERA from 1.47 to 1.37. However, Oh saw his team getting beaten by the Dodgers 5-3 in the end.
Oh has now allowed three earned runs in 19 2/3 innings with 24 strikeouts in his first major league season. He hasn't allowed a single run in the last five games.
Oh took over from left-handed reliever Dean Kiekhefer with two outs and no one on base in the seventh. He retired Justin Turner on a flyout to center to close the inning. In the eighth, he got Adrian Gonzalez to ground out to first base and struck out Yasmani Grandal with his high-speed slider. Against Joc Pederson, the 33-year-old pitcher got a lucky strikeout as the batter fouled a bunt with two strikes.
"I'm just satisfied that I didn't allow any hits or give up any runs," he said after the game. "But I don't put a big emphasis on my pitching today."
Oh threw 21 pitches and 16 of them were strikes against the Dodgers. He said he was just following the lead from catcher Yadier Molina.
"My manager and pitching coach wanted to see me pitch against the Dodgers' cleanup," he said. "I think my slider was good today because Molina wanted me to pitch it when left-handed hitters were at bat." (Yonhap)
