Bae Ji-hwan (26), who went down to the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians under the Pittsburgh Pirates, remained silent in his first Minor League game.

On the 9th (Korea time), Bae Ji-hwan started as the first batter and center fielder in an away game against the Louisville Bats, a Triple-A team under the Cincinnati Reds, at Louisville Slugger Field in Louisville, Kentucky, recording 4 at-bats with no hits and 2 Samjin.

In his first game after going down to Triple-A, Bae Ji-hwan struck out swinging in his first at-bat in the top of the first inning. He battled with right-handed starting pitcher Chase Petty until the full count, but his bat missed the sixth pitch, an outside high four-seam fastball at 96 mph (154.5 km/h).

In the top of the third inning, where he came up again as the lead-off batter, he was out with a ground ball to first base. After battling until the seventh pitch, he hit a low slider on the inside, but the weak hit resulted.

In the top of the fourth inning, he continued his full count matchup with Petty until the eighth pitch, but struck out swinging. On the eighth pitch, his bat was late on an outside high four-seam fastball at 96.1 mph (154.7 km/h).

His last at-bat in the top of the seventh inning was a ground ball to second base. He hit the fourth pitch, a low slider from right-hander Sam Benscoter, but he couldn't get it past the infield.

The Indianapolis team also lost the game 2-4 that day.

Bae Ji-hwan entered the Pittsburgh 26-player opening roster, leveraging a strong performance in the exhibition games with a batting average of .381 (16 hits in 42 at-bats), 1 home run, 4 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.017, but after just 2 games, he was notified of his move to Triple-A on the 4th.

In his only starting game on the 30th of last month against the Miami Marlins, he went silent with 4 at-bats and no hits, striking out 3 times, and the following day, he came in as a pinch runner but missed an opportunity after making a critical baserunning error that disrupted the scoring effort in the eighth inning.

Bae Ji-hwan now needs to aim for another big league call-up from Triple-A, but the start of his first game was not good.

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