Lotte Giants starter Charlie Barnes pitches against the Kiwoom Heroes during a Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on April 29, 2025, in this photo provided by the Giants. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 29 (Korea Bizwire) — With his job security seemingly getting more tenuous by the day, Lotte Giants starter Charlie Barnes twirled a gem Tuesday that could help him turn the corner.
Barnes held the Kiwoom Heroes to a run over seven innings in the Giants’ 9-3 win at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.
Now pitching in his fourth Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) season, the American pitcher came into Tuesday’s game with a 2-4 record and an uncharacteristic 5.67 ERA after six starts. In his three previous seasons, Barnes had pitched to a 3.42 ERA.
After Barnes allowed six runs on six hits and four walks in five innings against the Hanwha Eagles last Wednesday, Giants manager Kim Tae-hyoung offered a pessimistic outlook on Barnes’ season, saying he didn’t see any signs that Barnes would get better.
Before Tuesday’s game, Kim said he wanted his No. 1 starter to perform like one, while noting that Barnes’ pitches don’t have the same zip that they once did.
Less than two hours later, things looked dicey for Barnes, who gave up a solo home run to Ruben Cardenas in the bottom of the first inning.
But Barnes regrouped and did not allow another hit until one out in the seventh.
He was particularly sharp with his slider, finishing off all of his six strikeouts with that pitch.
In the second inning, Barnes got all three outs with grounders. He then struck out two batters in the third inning to negate a two-out walk. He struck out another batter in the fourth and two more in the fifth, before retiring the side in the sixth with a groundout and two pop flies.
Oh Sun-jin singled with one out in the seventh and reached second on a passed ball. But Barnes cleaned up the mess by getting Park Su-jong to ground out back toward the mound.
The Giants were comfortably up 6-1 at that point and they added three more runs for good measure.
Barnes threw 95 pitches, 67 for strikes. He threw sliders (37), four-seam fastballs (36), two-seam fastballs (12) and changeups (10) at the Heroes.
In two starts against the Heroes this year, Barnes has a 1.93 ERA, with three earned runs in 14 innings. He has a 6.49 ERA against the rest of the KBO.
(Yonhap)
