He spent three years with the Samsung Lions in the KBO, winning just 10 games. However, he returned to the major leagues and established himself as a starting pitcher.
Ben Lively (31, Cincinnati Reds) started the 2023 Major League Baseball home game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S., on Sept. 25 (ET), giving up two runs on five hits (two home runs) in six innings with eight strikeouts and two walks to improve to 2-2 on the season.
Lively made his major league debut in 2017 with the Philadelphia Phillies. He moved to the Kansas City Royals for the 2018 season and stayed until 2019 before leaving the United States. He joined the Samsung organization as a replacement foreign pitcher during the 2019 season. In three years, through the 2021 season, he went 10-12 with a 4.14 ERA in 36 games.
He didn’t have much success with Samsung either. He signed a minor league contract with Cincinnati for the 2022 season. He went 2-5 with a 4.09 ERA in 18 games in Triple-A, but he went 4-0 with a 2.33 ERA in five games this season, earning a surprise call-up to the majors.
He made his major league debut on April 12 against the New York Mets. In relief, he pitched three innings of four-hit ball, striking out one and walking none. On the 16th, he took the loss against the Colorado Rockies with 2⅓ innings of 1-hit ball, 1 strikeout, and 1 run, but on the 20th, he got into an accident while starting against the New York Yankees. He took the loss, but bounced back with 5⅔ innings of two-hit ball, eight strikeouts, one walk, and two runs.
Then, on four days’ rest, he got the win against St. Louis. It was his first start in five years and eight months since Sept. 30, 2017, 메이저사이트 against the New York Mets while with Philadelphia. Although he was hit by a home run by Ras Nuba, who helped Japan win the WBC, it was more than expected.
Most of Lively’s pitches were in the 90-92 mph range. In the first inning, he gave up a single to Paul Goldschmidt, but induced a 90-mph grounder to shortstop from a surprised Goreman. He struck out Wilson Contreras on a slider.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the first, Lively used a curveball, changeup, and slider to work the strike count with runners on first and second before striking out Alec Burleson on a 91-mph fastball. Oscar Marcado and Nuba followed suit, inducing singles. In the third, Nolan Arenado struck out Nolan Arenado on a slider and Contreras on a two-seam fastball.
In the fourth, he gave up a 91-mph fastball to leadoff hitter Brandon Donovan for a solo shot to center. But he retired Tommy Edmon, who joined the Korean National Team for the WBC, as well as Burleson and Marcado on strikeouts and groundouts. In the fifth inning, Woo gave up a single to Nuba, but Nuba got a good look at Lively’s curveball. Lively ended the sixth inning with a strikeout to end the game.
When asked by the bench if he could pitch one more inning after the fifth, he gave the OK sign. Lively told MLB.com, “I like starting. I can give my teammates a break. Everybody needs a break,” Lively told MLB.com. Catcher Tyler Stephenson said of Lively, “The ball was playing in the strike zone. There’s a lot of different pitches. He’s able to mix it up and he’s unpredictable.”