NC’s new foreign pitcher Tanner Tully is smelling the roses after two games.
The NC Dinos won their 12th game of the season against the Doosan Bears of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League 12-5 at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on Tuesday. With this result, the team avenged the previous day’s loss and improved to 52 wins, 2 draws, and 48 losses on the season.
Tanner was the star of the game. The right-hander pitched six innings of seven-hit ball, striking out four and walking none while allowing three runs (one earned) on 90 pitches to earn his first win in the KBO.
Tanner threw a fastball that topped out at 145 mph (48 pitches) with a slider (24), splitter (14) and curve (4) for his second straight quality start. Only a fielding error with runners on second and third in the second inning led to three runs, but he was unflappable the rest of the way.
“Tanner pitched six solid innings to give us the win,” said NC head coach Kang Myung-hwon. Congratulations on your first win,” and named Tanner the player of the game.
After the game, Tanner said, “It took me a little while to adjust to the game, but I’m glad it turned out well.” He added, “It was mainly because I changed my game plan from pitching changeups to fastballs with Coach Battery and Ahn Jung-yeol. The team’s good defense and offense also helped us a lot,” said Tanner after his first win.
Tanner signed with NC on April 4 for a total of $200,000. The team claimed Taylor Widener off waivers to make a run at the postseason and chose Tanner, who has extensive minor league starting experience, to replace him.
Tanner has a career minor league record of 44-51 with a 4.18 ERA in 159 games (131 starts), including a 5-5 record with a 5.64 ERA in 19 appearances (19 starts) for the New York Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate this year.
In his KBO debut, Tanner pitched an impressive six innings against the Changwon Hanwha on April 15, allowing three runs on six hits (two home runs) with four strikeouts and no walks. Prior to the game, Kang said, “Tanner wasn’t 100 percent at that time. Today, his pitches and velocity were better than before,” Kang said before the game, and Tanner repaid the faith with a second straight quality start.
“I want to keep improving and keep winning, and I want to thank the fans for their great support,” Tanner said. 토토