With a month left until his military discharge, Lee Jung-yong recorded quality starts in two consecutive games in the Futures League.
On the 17th, Lee Jung-yong took the mound as a starter against the KT Wiz in the 2025 Futures League at Jeonbuk Iksan Stadium, recording 6 innings pitched with 8 hits allowed, 1 home run, no walks, 3 strikeouts, and 2 runs (1 earned run). Despite the solid outing, he became the losing pitcher as Sangmu lost 1-2.
Having secured the championship in the 2023 season Korean Series and enlisted in Sangmu, Lee Jung-yong will be discharged on June 17. Exactly one month remains.
On the 6th, Lee Jung-yong became the winning pitcher against Doosan's second team with 6 innings pitched, allowing 3 hits, and recording 7 strikeouts with no runs allowed. He has an earned run average of 2.00 (27 innings pitched, 6 earned runs) over his last 5 starts.
In the first inning, Lee Jung-yong allowed a surprise bunt single to Kim Myung-jun on the first pitch. Due to a throwing error on Lee Jung-yong's part, the batter-runner advanced to second base. Facing a no-out, runner on second scoring threat, he got Lee Ho-yeon to pop out to second, Ahn Chi-young to pop out to shortstop, and Yoon Jun-hyuk to ground out to third, escaping the danger. He finished the inning with 7 pitches.
In the second inning, he struck out leadoff hitter Choi Seong-min with three consecutive strikes after being ahead 2 balls. He allowed a hit to Lee Seung-hyun after a 10-pitch battle. He ended the inning by getting Kang Hyun-woo to pop out to right field and Lee Yong-hyun to pop out to left field.
The third inning ended with 6 pitches in a three-up, three-down format. He had Oh Seo-jin ground out to second on a 1-ball count, Kim Byung-jun ground out to second on a 1-strike count, and Lee Ho-yeon pop out to left field on a 1-ball count.
In the top of the fourth inning, Sangmu got singles from Han Dong-hee, followed by walks from Yoon Jun-ho and Jeon Ui-san, creating a no-out, bases-loaded opportunity. They scored the first run with a sacrifice fly by Han Seung-yeon.
Lee Jung-yong retired the side in order again in the fourth inning. He struck out Ahn Chi-hyung, got Yoon Jun-hyuk to ground out to first, and ended the inning with Choi Seong-min grounding out to second.
In the fifth inning, Lee Jung-yong retired Lee Seung-hyun on a foul fly to the catcher and struck out Kang Hyun-woo. After recording two outs, he allowed a solo home run to Lee Yong-hyun on the second pitch after falling behind 1 ball. He allowed a tying run at 1-1. He allowed a hit to Oh Seo-jin but ended the fifth inning by getting Kim Byung-jun to pop out to left field.
In the sixth inning, he allowed leadoff hitter Lee Ho-yeon to reach base due to a throwing error at first base. Ahn Chi-young's bunt became an infield hit next to the pitcher. In a no-out, runners on first and second situation, he got Yoon Jun-hyuk to pop out to left field but allowed a go-ahead RBI hit to Choi Seong-min, making it 1-2. In a one-out situation with runners on first and second, he got Lee Seung-hyun to ground out to second and Kang Hyun-woo to ground out to second, preventing additional runs.
Sangmu only managed to score once against KT's starting pitcher Choi Yong-jun through the sixth inning and failed to overcome Lee Sang-dong (2 innings, no runs) and Park Se-jin (1 inning, no runs) in the ninth, leading to their defeat.
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