The LG Twins one-two punch of Casey Kelly and Detrick Enns have been struggling of late.
Kelly has allowed 13 runs (12 earned) in 9⅔ innings over his last two starts, while Enns has allowed 11 runs in 9 innings over his last two starts. Together, they have the worst ERAs in their last two games (11 runs).
Enns and Kelly had four quality starts apiece in their first five games. However, after two straight quality starts, they both have the worst ERAs of the season at 5.09. Kelly's is 5.09, Enns' is 5.35. Of the 25 pitchers in the league who have pitched at least one inning of regulation, Kelly is 20th and Ens is 24th. With a shaky bullpen, it's tough to be a 1-2 starter.
Kelly had his worst start of the season on April 30 against NC at Changwon NC Park. He allowed seven runs (six earned) on eight hits, two homers, one walk, and three strikeouts in four innings (103 pitches).
He walked leadoff hitter Park Min-woo in the first inning and gave up a two-run homer to Davidson over the left field fence. He then gave up back-to-back singles to Kwon Hee-dong and Seo Ho-cheol, and with runners on first and second, gave up a three-run homer to Kim Sung-wook on a 3-ball-1 strike.
Five runs in the first inning alone, a rare occurrence for Kelly, who is now in his sixth year with LG. Kelly also gave up a run in the second inning. 안전놀이터 She walked Kim Joo-won to lead off the inning, and Park Gun-woo's grounder to short was dropped by first baseman Austin on a throwing error, putting runners on first and third with no outs.
Son As-seob singled to right, making it 0-6. With runners on first and third, Park grounded out to third baseman Gun-woo Park to end the threat.
However, Kelly gave up three straight singles to Son, Park, and Davidson in the bottom of the fourth inning to give up the seventh run. Kelly, who throws a high pitch count every inning, had thrown 103 pitches by the fourth inning and was removed from the game in the fifth inning.
Kelly last pitched on March 24 against Samsung Electronics in Daegu, giving up six runs on 10 hits and two home runs in 5.2 innings. He has struggled in two straight games, allowing 13 runs (12 earned) in 9.2 innings in two games for an ERA of 11.17. After posting four quality starts in his previous five outings, the last two have been back-to-back blowouts.
His struggles have been similar to those of starter Enns. In his first five starts, Enns pitched six innings or less in four of them, with the exception of a seven-run outing against NC on April 4.
However, he struggled in the first game of a doubleheader against SSG on April 21, giving up eight runs on eight hits and two home runs in five innings. He then allowed three runs on eight hits and three walks while throwing 105 pitches in four innings against KIA on March 27. He managed to get out of trouble, but struggled with over 20 pitches in each inning.
With the Enns unable to get out of the fifth inning, the bullpen was called upon to come up with a late inning comeback. However, the bullpen struggled in the 28th inning as they were rested after back-to-back games, causing a butterfly effect.
The one-two punch needs to be retooled. The Angels have been working on a changeup, which manager Yoon Kyung-yup gave them as homework before spring training. The diagnosis was that he didn't have a changeup other than his cutter and slider, but so far, it hasn't worked out and the pitch's value has been low.
“I had a meeting with Enns with my pitching coach, and we decided to ditch the changeup. I decided to learn a new pitch rather than stick with the changeup that didn't work in the U.S. and Japan. I decided to throw a splitter, which is a little easier to catch than my other pitches because it's a fastball,” he explained.
Kelly struggled early in last year's season, and was even talked about leaving the organization. He rebounded late in the season with the addition of a new pitch, the forkball, and was re-signed for a sixth year. But this year, he's in trouble again.
