Samsung Lions Extend Contract With Australian Pitcher Jack O'Loughlin Through May

The Samsung Lions have extended their contract with their injury replacement, Jack O'Loughlin, to the end of next month. The Lions made the announcement prior to their Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) regular-season game Wednesday. O'Loughlin, an Australian left-hander, had first signed a six-week deal worth US$50,000 on March 16 to fill in for American starter Matt Manning, who went down with an elbow injury during spring training in February. O'Loughlin's new deal will give him an additional $30,000 through May 31.

Since last year, KBO clubs have been allowed to acquire temporary replacements for injured foreign players who are expected to be sidelined for at least six weeks. The Lions pounced on O'Loughlin soon after the pitcher's strong showing at the World Baseball Classic, where he allowed just one unearned run in 6 1/3 innings across two outings -- including one against South Korea.

In six starts in the KBO so far, O'Loughlin has a 0-2 record with a 4.50 ERA, along with 27 strikeouts and 12 walks in 28 innings. After some shaky early moments, O'Loughlin has settled down lately. On April 18, he was working on 3 1/3 scoreless innings against the LG Twin before being automatically ejected for hitting a batter in the head with a fastball. Five days later, O'Loughlin tossed six innings of one-run ball and struck out his season-high eight batters against the SSG Landers.

"O'Loughlin has been excellent, and if he can build on this, we may keep him around for the entire season," Lions manager Park Jin-man said in his pregame media availability. "He had some ups and downs earlier in the year, but he has steadied himself."

On Wednesday, O'Loughlin held the Doosan Bears to three runs in six innings for his second consecutive quality starts -- an outing in which a starter goes at least six innings and allows three or fewer earned runs -- but was charged with a loss as the Bears shut down the Lions 4-0.

O'Loughlin has a 3.24 mark in fielding independent pitching (FIP), more than a full run lower than his ERA. FIP assesses a pitcher's performance based on events and elements he can control -- strikeouts, unintentional walks, hit-by-pitches and home runs. A FIP that's notably lower than ERA generally indicates the pitcher has been unlucky, and the defense behind him hasn't been great.