This past weekend, Doosan Bears' starting pitcher Colabin, who heated up the professional baseball scene with a nervous exchange with Byungho Park (Samsung Lions), takes the mound with the task of achieving the team's first winning streak of the season.

The Doosan Bears, led by manager Lee Seung-yup, are preparing for their second match of the season against the Kiwoom Heroes of the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League on the 3rd at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul.

The first meeting the day before ended in a 5-3 victory for Doosan. Starting pitcher Choi Seung-yong set the stage for victory with a quality start, allowing three runs over six innings, while Doosan scored the winning and insurance runs in the 8th inning with no outs and runners on first and second base due to a catching error and a one-run infield ground ball by Jae-hwan Kim. Young-ha Lee secured the victory with two scoreless innings of relief. Doosan, which broke a two-game losing streak, is currently tied for last place with a record of 3 wins and 6 losses.

Doosan challenges for its third attempt at its first winning streak of the season against Kiwoom on the 3rd. The previous two opportunities for back-to-back wins ended in disappointment. The team broke a three-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory against the KT Wiz on the 26th of last month, but fell to KT 3-4 the next day, and after a 2-0 shutout victory against the Samsung Lions at Jamsil on the 28th, they suffered a shocking 2-13 loss to Samsung the following day.

Doosan's starting pitcher is the exceptional ace Colabin. Colabin's season record stands at 1 win and no losses with an earned run average (ERA) of 3.00 over two games, marking his debut victory with seven scoreless innings against Samsung on March 28. He previously faced Kiwoom in a spring training game, where he pitched four scoreless innings.

Colabin found himself at the center of controversy after a heated exchange with the central batter Byungho Park of Samsung. The situation unfolded as follows: Colabin faced Park with two outs and a runner on second base in the 7th inning during a scoring chance. As a wild pitch advanced the runner to third, Colabin fell into a 3B-1S count. After a foul ball, he threw a 151 km fastball on the sixth pitch to retire Park with a flyout to right field. The inning ended.

As Colabin was walking into the dugout, he said something to Byungho Park, who was at first base. A moment later, Park shouted at Colabin in discontent, and the scene was captured on the broadcast screen, leading the umpire, Yang Eui-ji, and Kang Min-ho to gather around to calm the agitated Park. Ignoring this, Colabin raised both arms triumphantly as he celebrated achieving a quality start with seven scoreless innings in front of the home fans at first base.

In an attempt to resolve the misunderstanding, Colabin directly sought out Byungho Park before the Samsung game on the 29th. Around 4 p.m., as Park finished his training, Colabin, accompanied by a translator, went to the Samsung locker room by the third base side to discuss the previous day's exchange.

According to Doosan officials, when Park shared his experiences from his Major League Baseball days with Colabin, Colabin said, 'I just came to Korea and will learn about Korean culture in the future,' expressing his intent to apologize. Park accepted this coolly, and the two players wished each other well.

Meanwhile, Kiwoom has also announced Kenny Rosenberg, their only foreign pitcher and ace, as their starting pitcher. Rosenberg's season record includes 1 win and 1 loss with an earned run average of 9.00 over two games, having secured his first victory with two earned runs allowed over seven innings against SSG Landers on March 28.

Like Colabin, Rosenberg also has experience facing Doosan's batting lineup in a spring training game, where he pitched five scoreless innings for the win on March 15.

[OSEN]