Bears’ ace Ariel Miranda breaks KBO single-season strikeout record

SEOUL– Doosan Bears’ left-hander Ariel Miranda is the new single-season strikeout king in South Korean baseball.

Miranda got his 224th strikeout of the 2021 Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) season Sunday against the LG Twins, surpassing a 37-year-old record held by the late Lotte Giants legend Choi Dong-won.

Miranda’s record-breaking strikeout came against Hong Chang-ki for the second out in the top of the third inning at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul.

Miranda had thrown 169 1/3 innings before Sunday. Choi had his 223 strikeouts in 283 2/3 innings in 1984.
Miranda had a strikeout in the first inning and picked up another in the second inning to pull into a tie with Choi.

Then with one out in the third, Miranda got Hong to whiff on a 1-2 forkball for the record.

Miranda extended his record by striking out Lee Jae-won in the fourth inning but was pulled with one out in the fifth inning after frittering away a 2-0 lead.

Miranda walked the first three batters of that inning to load the bases. Chae Eun-seong cashed in a run with a sacrifice fly, and Oh Ji-hwan delivered a game-tying single to center.

That spelled the end of Miranda’s day. He was charged with two runs on three hits and a season-high seven walks in 4 1/3 innings.

This snapped Miranda’s streak of quality starts — pitching at least six innings and allowing three or fewer earned runs — at 19.

The Bears regained a two-run lead with a two-run sixth, but the Twins responded with a run each in the seventh and the ninth. The Bears then walked off on the Twins 5-4 in the bottom ninth, courtesy of an RBI groundout by Park Kun-woo.

Miranda may make one more start before the regular season ends next Saturday.

This is Miranda’s first season in the KBO. The 32-year-old Cuban was signed by the Baltimore Orioles as an amateur free agent in 2015 and made his big league debut the following year.

He was traded to the Seattle Mariners in July 2016 and last pitched in the majors in 2018. Miranda went on to pitch in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League before landing with the Bears.

Miranda leads the KBO with a 2.33 ERA and 225 strikeouts. He remains third in wins with 14, two behind David Buchanan of the Samsung Lions.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

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