It’s been a tumultuous few weeks for fans of Limatime. First, the reports of his demise by several Korean sports outlets spawned a outpouring of sadness from all corners of the globe. When it was discovered he had in fact not been released, but sent to the dregs of the Korean minor leagues, a shred of hope remained — candles on the mantle remained lit, but flickered with cold winds of cautious optimism, nearly extinguished when his scheduled return was mockingly rained upon by the Korean baseball Gods last Sunday.

But in the end mother nature was no match for Jose Desiderio Rodriguez Lima, who stepped to the mound on a temperate May evening in Seoul and pitched with the valor and energy of a man half his age, powering his Kia Tigers to a 12-1 win over the Worri Heroes.

Deftly mixing off-speed with more-off-speed pitches, sinker/changeup, changeup/sinker, sinker/sinker/changeup, changeup/changeup/sinker/changeup, kept one of the KBO’s more powerful lineups off-balance and often delirious.

The win was his first in Korea, and dropped his ERA from 7.43 to 5.70. Lima gave up a first inning double to the gap by Jun June-ho, but Lima battled back, striking out the vaunted Cliff Brumbaugh to end the inning. As Lima stepped off the mound, he jabbed his first into the air, stomping toward the dugout triumphant.

He would later surrender a single and a walk, but those would be the only other baserunners he’d allow all evening. With the Tigers leading 10-0 going into the seventh inning Lima was removed. He remained in the dugout for the duration, jovially joking with teammates and coaches, savoring the moment, just as those of us home watching were.

Condensed game Video on Demand (left hand side, midway down the page, click “VOD”).

Boxscore here.