2024-07-22 06:15:27
The KIA Tigers, the leader in professional baseball, went on a five-game winning streak at the expense of the Hanwha Eagles.
KIA won 8-4 against Hanwha in the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League match held at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon on the 20th.
With five consecutive wins, KIA solidified its lead with a season record of 56 wins, 2 draws, and 35 losses. The gap with second-place LG Twins (50 wins, 2 draws, and 42 losses), whose game against the Doosan Bears was declared a no-game that day, widened to 6.5 games.
Hanwha, who are stuck in a 6-game losing streak, remain in 9th place with a season record of 38 wins, 2 draws, and 52 losses. The gap with last place Kiwoom Heroes (37 wins, 53 losses) has also narrowed to 1 game.
The KIA batting lineup attacked the Hanwha mound on this day, recording 16 hits and 5 walks. There were also 3 home runs, including Choi Won-jun (1 run in the 3rd inning), Kim Do-young (1 run in the 3rd inning), and Socrates Brito (1 run in the 4th inning).
The feeling was so good that there were 5 players who had multiple hits, including Kim Tae-gun (3 hits in 5 at-bats), Na Seong-beom (3 hits in 4 at-bats), Kim Do-young (2 hits in 4 at-bats), Socrates (2 hits in 5 at-bats), and Choi Hyeong-woo (2 hits in 3 at-bats).
KIA starting pitcher James Nail pitched 6 innings, allowing 6 hits (1 home run), 2 walks, 5 strikeouts, and 1 run with active support from the batting line, earning his 9th win (2 losses) of the season.
On the other hand, Hanwha Eagles starter Kim Ki-jung was taken off the mound early after allowing 4 runs (3 earned runs) in 2 innings, suffering his 2nd loss (4 wins) of the season.
The batting lineup also showed a listless appearance, only scoring one run each in the 1st and 9th innings.
KIA scored in the first inning. With two outs and runners on first and second, Na Sung-beom hit a double to right field, and the opposing team’s defensive error allowed two runners to score.
In the top of the third inning, with the score tied at 2-1, Choi Won-jun and Kim Do-young hit back-to-back home runs to add 2 more runs, and in the fourth inning, Socrates hit a solo home run.
KIA took the lead early in the top of the 5th inning with a 2-RBI hit by Kim Tae-gun, increasing the score to 7-1.
Hanwha chased 3 points in the last attack in the bottom of the 9th inning when they were down 1-8, but it was a late start.
In Daegu, the Samsung Lions won 21-4 with a strong batting line that hit 22 hits.
Samsung, which broke its three-game losing streak, maintained its third place with a season record of 49 wins, 2 draws, and 43 losses. The gap with second-place LG was narrowed to one game.
Lotte, unable to continue the momentum from the previous day’s victory, remained in 8th place with a season record of 39 wins, 3 draws, and 48 losses.
Samsung devastated Lotte’s mound with a whopping 22 hits that day. They hit 4 home runs, including Kang Min-ho (3 runs in the 3rd inning), Lee Seong-gyu (1 run in the 4th inning), Ruben Cardenas (1 run in the 6th inning), and Kim Young-woong (2 runs in the 6th inning).
In particular, Kang Min-ho had a great performance, hitting a go-ahead 3-run home run in the bottom of the 3rd inning with the score tied 3-3, and going 3-for-4 with 3 hits (1 home run), 1 run, and 3 RBIs.
Kang Min-ho, who hit his 10th home run of the season, has set a valuable record of hitting double-digit home runs for 15 consecutive years (5th time in history) since 2010 when he was with Lotte, up until this season.
Ryu Ji-hyeok also had a great performance with 4 hits in 6 at-bats, 2 runs, and 5 RBIs, and Kim Hyun-jun recorded 4 hits in 5 at-bats, 3 runs.
Samsung’s new foreign player Cárdenas also hit a KBO League home run in just his second game, recording 2 hits (1 home run), 1 run, and 2 RBIs in 6 at-bats.
Samsung starter Won Tae-in was somewhat shaken, allowing 7 hits (1 home run), 2 walks, 2 strikeouts, and 4 runs in 6 innings, but he earned his 8th win (5 losses) of the season with the hot support of the batting lineup.
Meanwhile, the LG-Doosan game in Jamsil, the SSG-Kiwoom game in Incheon, and the KT-NC game in Suwon were all declared no-games due to rain.
Among these, the Jamsil game received attention as the farewell game for LG’s long-serving foreign player Casey Kelly, but the record was not recognized.
LG decided to replace the foreign pitcher the day before and notified Kelly of his release.
Although the farewell was decided, Kelly decided to play the scheduled game.
An LG official explained, “We decided to give Kelly a choice, and after discussing it with his family, Kelly expressed his intention to pitch, so we decided to go up on the mound as scheduled.”
In his final appearance, Kelly pitched a shutout for 2⅔ innings before the game was suspended due to rain.
The game, which was suspended at 6:50 p.m., was declared to resume after an hour of waiting, but rain poured down again while the ground was being cleared, and the game was eventually declared a no-game.
Kelly’s eyes were red as he waved to LG fans who were chanting his name after the no-game was declared.
The LG players waved Kelly goodbye for the last time, and Kelly bowed deeply to the crowd chanting his name.
The Incheon game was stopped after just 6 minutes of play and was declared a no-game after 42 minutes, while the Suwon game was called off after 37 minutes after being stopped during NC’s attack in the top of the 3rd inning with the score tied at 0-0.
(Seoul = News 1)
2024-07-22 06:15:27