LG Twins starter Lachlan Wells dominates in 3-0 shutout victory over Hanwha Eagles

With only 84 pitches thrown through eight shutout innings Wednesday night, LG Twins starter Lachlan Wells had a golden opportunity to record his first career complete game shutout.

Thanks to his efficient four-pitch mix, Wells made the Hanwha Eagles, one of the most productive offensive teams in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) this season, look hapless at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul.

However, nursing a 3-0 lead, the Twins elected to go with closer You Young-chan, instead of giving Wells a chance to finish what he started. Wells watched as You struck out two batters to close out the 3-0 win.

"I wanted to go out there for the ninth," Wells said, after giving up just one hit and striking out a season-high seven batters. The left-hander improved to 2-1 with a sparkling 1.44 ERA. "I haven't had a complete game shutout before so it's something that obviously is a pretty cool achievement. But just to go out there and put the team in a position to win, and we did that."

Wells would have been in line for a "Maddux," a statistic named after former Major League Baseball star and Hall of Famer, Greg Maddux. It is for a complete game shutout with fewer than 100 pitches. Maddux, who built his career on efficiency, had 13 such performances since pitch tracking began in 1988.

Wells, who threw 41 four-seam fastballs, 23 changeups, 14 curveballs and six sliders, said he pleaded his case with pitching coach Kim Kwang-sam, but to no avail.

"I said to Sam that I wanted to go back out there, and if we had scored in the bottom of the eighth, I would have gone back out there," Wells said. "But as I said, put the team in a position to win and we got that done."

Twins manager Youm Kyoung-youb said afterward he didn't want to tax Wells too much.

"His pitch count was already past 80, and we felt he'd be just as tired as if he had thrown over 100 pitches," Youm said. "The season is long, and we have a lot more games left."

The Eagles entered this game ranked second in the KBO in team batting average, runs and hits, and first in batting average with men in scoring position. But they managed a meager single off Wells and put a runner in scoring position just once all game.

Wells, an Australian pitcher signed as an Asian quota player this season, said he didn't do anything different in this game.

"I can't really pinpoint it on anything," he said. "Just went through the game plan this afternoon with (catcher Park Dong-won) and Sam, and just went out there and attacked the hitters, and went after them."

Wells did not allow any base runner in seven of his eight innings. His only trouble came in the fourth inning, when he gave up a one-out single to Yonathan Perlaza and walked Moon Hyun-bin.

Wells then retired cleanup Kang Baek-ho on a routine fly to left field. With another slugger, Chae Eun-seong, at the plate, Moon was picked off at first base by Park.

"A big moment in the game there," Wells said. "Got us out of an inning where anything could have happened. To have the defense behind me there today definitely helped a lot."

The Twins acquired Wells, who pitched for another KBO club, Kiwoom Heroes, last year, to be a versatile reliever, someone who can eat up multiple innings in a pinch and take the ball in high-leverage situations. But an injury to one of the incumbent starters, Son Ju-young, thrust Wells into the rotation, and the Twins couldn't have asked for more from him.

Wells has not allowed more than two runs in any of his four starts so far.

While the Twins have planned to move Wells to the bullpen once Son returns in May, another starter, Yonny Chirinos, went down this week with an elbow injury. Chirinos received an injection in his elbow and is expected to be out for at least a month, and it likely means Wells' place in the rotation is safe for now.

But when the time eventually comes that Wells will be asked to pitch in relief, he will gladly do that for the good of the team.

"I'd like to stay in the starter role, but if I'm going to go back to the bullpen for the team, then I go back to the bullpen for the team," he said. "As long as I can go out there and do my job in any role and we win games, that's all that matters."