He’s no longer a “starter”. He’s practically an ace.

The LG Twins’ Lee Jung-yong pitched a dominant performance to extend his winning streak to three games. Lee pitched a six-inning, five-hit, one-walk, five-strikeout complete game against the Hanwha Eagles in Jamsil on Monday, leading the team to a 10-0 victory.

It was his eighth game as a starter and his third quality start. On August 2, Lee recorded his first quality start with six scoreless innings against Jamsil Kiwoom, and on August 9, Lee recorded his first win with five innings of two-hit ball against Gwangju KIA. On Aug. 16, he extended his winning streak to two games with a six-inning, six-hit shutout against Daegu Samsung Electronics.

Since August, he has three quality starts in four games and has allowed just two runs in 23 innings for a 0.78 ERA.

While other Korean starters such as Choi Won-tae and Lim Chan-kyu have had erratic outings lately, Lee has been very consistent.

After giving up an infield single to Jung Eun-won in the top of the first inning, Lee retired 11 straight batters until the second out of the fourth inning.

With two outs in the top of the fourth inning, he was faced with the first run of the game. She gave up an infield single to Chae Eun-sung in the fourth inning. She gave up a straight ball to Kim Tae-yeon in the fifth. With runners on first and second, she struck out Jang Jin-hyuk on a forked ball. In the top of the fifth, he gave up a single to Choi Jae-hoon in the eighth, but retired the next two batters.

With a 4-0 lead, Lee took the mound in the top of the sixth. He gave up back-to-back singles to leadoff man Lee Do-yoon and No. 3 Noh Si-hwan, putting runners on first and second with no outs. But he stayed calm. He got No. 4 Chae Eun-sung to fly out to center field to put runners on first and third. He struck out Kim Tae-yeon in the fifth on a 2B2S with a 130-kilometer forkball and got Jang Jin-hyuk to fly out to right field to end the inning.

The fastball, which he threw 33 of his 86 pitches in the game – his most in a game this season – topped out at 145 mph, but he mixed it with his forkball (25), slider (17) and curve (11) to cook the Hanwha bats. He struck out five batters, two each with his slider and forkball, and he also induced a groundout with his fastball, meaning that any of his pitches can be used as a strikeout pitch.

“I’ve won a lot of games when I’ve been out there, and I wanted to give my teammates some good energy today,” Lee said of his victory.

Indeed, Lee has been LG’s “win fairy. In his eight starts, LG had a 7-1 record. “I want to spread the idea that the team wins when Jung Yong throws, and even if I don’t, the team still wins, so I think I’m trying to do my best,” Lee said, adding that he hoped to be the team’s victory fairy.

“I kept working out, and there was nothing difficult in the preparation process,” Lee said of his first appearance in 16 days due to rain cancellations, “but it’s not that I didn’t think about the fact that I wasn’t feeling well. I thought the first inning was important, but it went better than I thought.”

Lee’s place in the starting lineup was solidified by his forkball and curveball. Lee, who threw a forkball in the amateur ranks but became a bullpen pitcher and focused on fastballs and sliders as a pro, started throwing the forkball again when he switched to the starting role and learned a curveball from Im Chan-gyu.

In spring training this year, he told reporters that he had a secret weapon, and it was a forkball. “It’s called ‘Lee Jung-yong’s dragon claw,’ and it’s a forkball that’s stuck in a dragon’s claw,” Lee said, making the reporters laugh.메이저놀이터

However, he said he was more concerned about his fastball than his forkball. “I still think the fastball is number one. If the fastball survives, the rest of the pitches can survive, so I’m focusing more on the fastball,” he said.

His chemistry with catcher Park Dong-won is also getting better. “Today, I thought Han-hwa would be aggressive because he hasn’t been hitting well lately, so I told him to be more aggressive with Dong-won,” Lee said, adding, “Dong-won has a lot to do with that. We’ve been talking a lot and our chemistry is getting better and better.”

The loss of ace Adam Plutko to injury has put a lot of pressure on the starters. “Honestly, I think there is pressure, but I just want to give them good energy on the days I pitch,” Lee said.

He’s already signed up for next year’s team. He is even more eager to play the rest of this season. “Next year, I have to go to the real Merchant Marine,” Lee said. “I hope the good results continue. I really want to achieve the beauty of Yujong, and I want to wear a (championship) ring.”