The Kia Tigers couldn’t break their losing streak in the first game of a three-game weekend series. It wasn’t just the result, but also the process.
The Tigers dropped their 13th game of the season against the Doosan Bears of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League 6-8 on Friday at Gwangju-KIA Champions Field. With its third straight loss, KIA fell to 60 wins, 2 draws, and 55 losses (.522) and dropped one spot in the standings from fourth to fifth. Their lead over sixth-place Doosan is completely gone, leaving a red light for fifth-place Mercury.
While starter Yoon Young-cheol struggled, giving up two runs on six hits (one homer) and two walks in 3⅔ innings, the bats piled on the runs, including Lee Woo-sung’s grand slam in the fourth and Kim Sun-bin’s RBI double in the fifth. In the top of the sixth, reliever Lim Ki-young was up to the task, throwing two scoreless innings. The game seemed to be tilting toward another KIA victory.
However, after a tying solo shot by Park Jun-young in the top of the eighth, KIA lost the lead in the top of the ninth on back-to-back push balls by Kim In-tae and Park Jun-young, and were unable to score any more runs and had to accept their third straight loss. Reliever Jung Hae-young, who came on to pitch the top of the ninth, took the loss after giving up two runs on three hits with one walk and one strikeout in ⅓ of an inning.메이저사이트
Before the 14th game of the season against Doosan was canceled due to rain on the 16th, KIA manager Kim Jong-kook reviewed the previous day’s game, saying, “It was unfortunate that we gave up a lot of walks in the ninth inning.” “It’s okay if they got a hit or a home run, but it’s a bit unfortunate that they didn’t,” he said, “Other than that, overall, there are some things they did well and some things we did well.”
“I think you could see that I was trying to make it difficult when I should have stayed with (the batsman). I don’t think I was trying to hit him, which is a little disappointing. You have to go toe-to-toe and make sure you can control the opponent, induce a hit or get a strikeout,” he said. “The batters did a good job when they needed to score, but it was a little disappointing at the end. We need to put it behind us and prepare well so we can win the game.”
There were some close calls early in the game. In the bottom of the second inning, after a throwing error by third baseman Heo Kyung-min, pinch-hitter Lee Woo-sung ran to second base and collided with the first base umpire, who didn’t see it coming, and fell to the ground, unable to get up for a while. Since it was an in-play situation, he was tagged out, but out and safe or not, he left and could have been seriously injured. In his final at-bat in the eighth inning, Lee was hit in the leg by a five-pitch fastball from Kim Myung-shin and was replaced by pinch-hitter Oh Sun-woo for player protection.
Lee escaped serious injury but will need to rest for a while, according to the manager. “I don’t think the umpire did it on purpose, and I think we were trying to avoid it together,” said Kim Jong-kook. It’s regrettable, but what can we do,” he said, adding, “Lee Woo-sung will not be able to play for about two to three days.”
If the game had been played today, the KIA lineup would have been Kim Do-young (shortstop), Choi Won-joon (right fielder), Na Sung-beom (designated hitter), Choi Hyung-woo (left fielder), Socrates Brito (center fielder), Kim Sun-bin (second baseman), Hwang Dae-in (first baseman), Byun Woo-hyuk (third baseman), and Han Jun-soo (catcher). Hwang was the starting pitcher.
The game that was canceled on the 16th was rescheduled for the 18th, a reserve day, and KIA will play an eight-game series. They will start Thomas Pannoni and Hwang Dong-ha on the 17th and 18th, respectively.