Samsung Lions starter Ariel Jurado pitches against the Doosan Bears during the clubs' Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap

By several measures, Samsung Lions ace Ariel Jurado has been one of the most effective pitchers in Korean baseball so far this year. However, he only has two wins to show for it after six starts.

Pitching wins are heavily dependent on factors over which starters have no control, leading modern day analysts to consider them largely meaningless when assessing starting pitchers' value.

For instance, a starter may settle for a no-decision or, even worse, a loss after throwing seven innings of one-run ball if his teammates don't give him any run support. A starter may also see his bullpen fritter away a big lead in late innings to cost him a win.

Jurado, 2-1 with an excellent 1.62 ERA, has been no stranger to these scenarios.

He has opened the 2026 Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) season with six consecutive quality starts, an outing in which a starter goes at least six innings and allows no more than three earned runs. Since serving up three earned runs over six innings in his season debut on March 28, Jurado has allowed just four earned runs total in five starts covering 33 innings in April.

However, wins have been hard to come by. On April 10, Jurado gave up two runs — one unearned — in six innings against the NC Dinos. The Lions were up 4-2 when the bullpen took over, but the Dinos tied the game with two runs in the top eighth. The Lions fought back to beat the Dinos 8-5, but Jurado wasn't credited with the win.

Last Wednesday, Jurado went seven innings and gave up only a run against the SSG Landers. He left with the Lions nursing a 2-1 lead but the bullpen coughed up two runs in the top ninth to lose 3-2.

Against the Doosan Bears on Tuesday at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, Jurado was two outs away from earning his much-deserved win, with the Lions up 3-0. He had thrown seven shutout innings and struck out his season-high seven batters without walking anybody.

And yet, the bullpen fell apart once again — surrendering three runs with one out in the bottom ninth to send the game into extra innings and waste Jurado's gem.

Source: Korea Times News