Kim Wins 40th Despite Stomach Virus

Kim Byung-hyun (27, Colorado Rockies), in what was his fourth attempt, won his career 40th game in spite of an upset stomach.

Kim pitched six plus innings at his home stadium Coors Field, Denver, in an inter league match against the Oakland A’s yesterday, giving up no runs on four hits, while striking out five and walking three. The Rockies won, 7-0, putting an end to the American League West frontrunner’s 10-game winning streak while coming out of a three-game losing streak themselves.

Kim was replaced with rookie reliever Ramon Ramirez with no outs in the seventh, after giving up a hit to Dan Johnson and walking Bobby Kielty. Ramirez got out of the inning forcing a double play and infield grounder.

The local press such as the Seattle Post reported that Kim was not feeling well, suffering from food poisoning on and off the mound. In his post-game press conference, Kim told reporters, “I ate something wrong. My body temperature’s normal, but I cannot feel anything on my tongue. I’m still feeling shaky.”

In a strong comeback from the previous three games, where Kim gave up 14 runs over 15 innings, the win secured Kim’s fourth win (4-4) of the season and his 40th (40-44) of his career. It marked his 349th outing, and of the 48 matches, he collected 13 wins (13-20) as a starter and the other 27 wins (27-24) as a reliever. His season’s ERA improved from 5.40 to 4.84.

Kim dominated the game with aggressive pitches, striking out two in the first inning alone. Of the 40 pitches made up to the 3rd inning, 31 of them were strikes.

Sung-Kyu Kim kimsk@donga.com