Returning Kia Tigers guardian Shin Jung-young (23) is aiming to play the rest of the game.
KIA defeated Kiwoom 2-0 on Wednesday at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, in a regular-season visit game of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League before 16,000 fans.
In front of the 10th full crowd of the season at Gocheok Sky Dome (as of 19:38), Kia improved to 64 wins, two draws and 45 losses to take a four-game lead over second-place LG Twins. Kiwoom, which failed to win three straight games, dropped to 48 wins, two draws and 61 losses.
A strong mound was the driving force behind KIA’s victory. Starting with starter James Nail, who pitched five innings of four-hit ball with no walks and six strikeouts, the Kwak Do-gyu (1 inning), Jang Hyun-sik (1 inning), Jeon Sang-hyun (1 inning), and Jeong Hae-young (1 inning) combined to not allow a single hit and struck out four to lead Kia to a clean sweep.
Jung earned his first save in 54 days since June 20 against the LG Twins in Gwangju. He faced a cleanup trio of Song Sung-moon, Choi Joo-hwan, and Lim Byung-wook, but got through the ninth inning on eight pitches.
After the game, manager Lee Beom-ho said, “We were able to get the win because all the pitchers on the mound, from starter Naeil to closer Jung Hae-young, performed evenly. I also want to praise Kim Tae-gun’s seasoned lead. We made a pitching change a little early because Nail has to pitch twice this week, but it worked out well. Congratulations to Nail on his 10th win,” said the pitching staff.
“I thought it wasn’t as unfamiliar as I thought, but I think I was a little nervous because it’s been a while, but I’m glad I was able to finish well,” Jung said after the game.
Jung finished the day with 22 saves, five behind leader Oh Seung-hwan (42-Samsung Lions). The fact that the title fight is still possible after such a long 안전한 파워볼사이트 hiatus means that Jeong and KIA were very strong in the first half. However, Jeong prioritized team victories over saves.
He said, “I missed a month and a half due to injury, but I honestly don’t think it’s right to be greedy for the save king. I’m focusing on not getting injured again and thinking about the team first,” he said. “When I was injured, I saw an article about what Oh Seung-hwan said about me, and I actually saw him in Daegu. He told me that I should throw strikes and pitches, and that made me feel better. I’m too young to call myself a competitor, and he’s a veteran, so I’m just trying to do my best,” she said.
This season, Jung was aiming for zero blown saves and a complete game. However, she had three blown saves, and the injury derailed both of her personal goals. “I focused on recovery and treatment as much as I could because I couldn’t throw the ball without pain. As soon as the pain went away, I prepared for the game and threw, and I can feel it getting better the more I throw. “Now I’m going to work hard on reinforcement exercises to make sure I don’t get hurt again. The save king is not greedy. My goals before the season were to not save a blown save and to pitch full time, but I didn’t accomplish either, so I’m going to prepare with the mindset that I can go all the way through the remaining games.”
Meanwhile, Lee Bum-ho said, “The bats were able to take the lead in the top of the fifth inning with three hits, including a double by Park Chan-ho. In the top of the eighth inning, when we needed an extra run, Socrates came through with a valuable RBI two batters later to win the first game of the week.” “Our batting pace has been a little off lately, but with a strong performance from the mound like today (13th), I expect the batters to find their pace again. All the players did a great job and it was great to have so many away fans in attendance for a midweek game. We are determined to have another good game tomorrow (Thursday).”