The Kia Tigers earned a valuable come-from-behind victory.
The Kia Tigers gave up a big inning in the seventh to fall behind in the first game of a doubleheader against the LG Twins of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field on Monday, but rallied to win 7-6 in the eighth inning on a tiebreaking RBI single by pinch-hitter Ko Jong-wook and a walk-off single by Park Chan-ho. The win avenged the previous day’s loss, ending a three-game losing streak.
It was a matchup between KIA substitute Hwang Dong-ha, who has yet to win his debut, and LG’s Im Chan-kyu, who has 10 wins. The center of gravity seemed to be leaning towards LG, but Hwang Dong-ha turned things around by pitching a scoreless fourth inning. On the other hand, Im gave up an early run to give KIA the lead.
KIA took advantage of the opportunity in the first inning. Park Chan-ho led off with a double to left field and Kim Do-young drew a walk, but Na Sung-beom swung wildly at a changeup from Im Chan-kyu and Park was caught stealing. Choi Hyung-woo also popped out to end the threat.
In the top of the third inning, Hwang Dae-in led off with a solo shot to left field to make it 1-0. Park Chan-ho followed with a triple and two batters later, Na Sung-beom hit a timely double into the right field corner to make it 2-0. In the fourth inning, Socrates doubled to right-center, followed by a sacrifice bunt and an error by Oh Ji-hwan that allowed Lee Woo-sung to score from behind the plate.
After LG’s Lim Chan-kyu didn’t allow any more runs, the bats responded in the fifth inning. After back-to-back singles by Oh Ji-hwan and Park Dong-won against Hwang Dong-ha, Moon Sung-joo singled up the middle to load the bases. Park Hae-min followed with a sacrifice bunt and Hong Chang-ki added another run with a sacrifice fly to right field to make it 2-3. It was cohesion at its finest.
Kia’s focus also shone through. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Lee Woo-sung led off with a double down the third base line and Hwang Dae-in drew a walk, allowing Lee to steal third base to put runners on first and third. Kim Tae-gun hit a single to right field with his trademark pushing motion. A wild pitch by Jung Woo-young on the mound allowed another run to score, making the score 5-2.
The lead was not to be denied. In the top of the seventh inning, Park Dong-won hit his 20th solo home run of the season. Moon Sung-joo and Park Hae-min drew back-to-back walks to tie the game. This led to a spectacular base hit. Hong Chang-ki singled to right field to score a run. With Park Hae-min on third base, KIA shortstop Park Chan-ho was only concerned with tagging the runner at second base, and he drove home to tie the game. Shin Min-jae’s infield single and Kim Hyun-soo’s grounder to short completed the comeback. The seventh inning showed why they are in first place.
Kia didn’t back down, either. In the top of the eighth, Kim Sun-bin singled to left off Yoo Young-chan and Lee Woo-sung singled to center field to put runners on first and second. Pinch-hitter Ko Jong-wook singled to right to tie the game at one. Kim Tae-gun followed with a walk, but Park Chan-ho hit a single up the middle against Ko Woo-seok to tie the game.
Hwang Dong-ha deserves a round of applause. He held them to just one hit through the fourth inning, helping them take the early lead. In the fifth inning, he gave up two runs on three hits. Kim Dae-yoo came in to save the day. Lim Ki-young struck out four and gave up a solo shot. Lee Jun-young gave up two runs and Jeon Sang-hyun one, but Choi Ji-min pitched a scoreless eighth to secure the win. In the ninth inning, Jung gave up a walk but used a powerful fastball that reached up to 148 kilometers to prevent a run and preserve the win. 14 saves on the season.메이저놀이터
Lim Chan-kyu, who has pitched two games and 12 1/3 innings of one-run ball against KIA this year, failed to get the win. In 5⅔ innings, he gave up four runs (three earned) on six hits (one home run) with two walks and one strikeout. It was a must-win game for LG, but they faltered a bit. Jung Woo-young gave up a run and Kim Jin-sung pitched a perfect seventh inning, but Yoo Young-chan gave up a run in the eighth to end the three-game winning streak.