Ex-MLB pitcher Doubront released by S. Korean club

SEOUL, Sept. 13 (Yonhap) — Former major league pitcher Felix Doubront has been released by his South Korean club, putting an end to a roller-coaster season.

The Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) placed the 30-year-old left-hander on the waivers Wednesday evening. The Venezuelan was only 6-9 with a 4.92 ERA in 25 starts in his first KBO season.

Doubront brought a career big-league record of 31-26 with a 4.89 ERA. He won 11 games for the Boston Red Sox in both 2012 and 2013, and won the World Series in 2013.

He had a promising start to his KBO stint, limiting opponents to one run over nine innings in spring training with eight strikeouts and two walks.

But it was a much different story in the regular season: He was 0-4 with an 8.37 ERA in his first five starts and had more walks (20) than strikeouts (18) in his first 23 2/3 innings.

The Giants parted ways with American right-hander Josh Lindblom after last season and acquired Doubront to fill that void. And in a development certain to drive an already frustrated Lotte fan base mad, Lindblom leads the KBO with a 2.93 ERA and a 1.06 walks, and hits per innings pitched (WHIP). He’s also second in wins (14), third in strikeouts (152) and fourth in innings pitched (162 2/3).

Doubront showed some signs of life in May and June, going 5-0 in nine starts across those two months with a 2.45 ERA in 58 2/3 innings.

But the left-hander went 1-5 over his last 10 starts and was touched for 10 earned runs in six innings in his two September outings that sealed his fate.

The Giants (52-64-2 in wins-losses-ties) remain well out of postseason contention, as they trail the LG Twins by 5.5 games for fifth place and the wild card.

In this file photo from May 8, 2018, Felix Doubront, then of the Lotte Giants, throws a pitch against the LG Twins in a Korea Baseball Organization regular season game at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul. The Giants placed Doubront, a former big-league pitcher, on waivers on Sept. 12, 2018. (Yonhap)