The Kia Tigers of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) have been on a tear despite an injury woes.
They have won 20 games, the fewest in franchise history, and are currently 21-9 as of September 29th. Despite a rash of injuries early in the season, the Tigers are leading the league thanks to new manager Lee Bum-ho’s approachable leadership and solid organization.
Kia got over a big hump on the 28th against LG in Jamsil. The team suffered back-to-back reverse losses on the 26th and 27th and came back from the brink of a sweep. They nearly lost their first three-game series of the season, but the dramatic victory lifted their spirits.
“I think it’s even more meaningful because it was a hard-fought victory,” said Lee Bum-ho after the game. It ended a three-game losing streak and prevented a sweep.
It was a virtuous cycle in the batting order. Kim Sun-bin batted top of the order for the first time in 1110 days since April 14, 2021, against Gwangju Lotte. 토토사이트 Park Chan-ho, who batted first, voluntarily requested to be moved down in the order and batted ninth.
Kim Sun-bin was the top hitter, going 3-for-5 with a home run, a walk, and three runs scored.
In the first inning, Kim led off with a single to right off LG starter Son Ju-young, followed by a walk to Lee Chang-jin and a grand slam home run by Choi Hyung-woo.
In the third inning, he led off with a walk and was stranded on second base on a grounder to shortstop with runners on first and second in the fourth inning with a 5-2 lead. Trailing 7-5 in the seventh, he led off the inning with a single up the middle. Pinch-hitter Na Sung-beom followed with a walk and Kim Do-young laid down a bunt toward third base. An error by catcher Park Dong-won on a throwing error at third allowed Kim to come home and score.
In the top of the eighth inning, with the score 8-7, Kim led off with a double down the left field line and scored on a single by Kim Ho-ryung to make it a two-run game. With the score 10-7 in the ninth inning, Kim scored on a passed ball.
After the game, Kim said, “Yesterday, I asked the coach directly that I wanted to bat first. I didn’t just want to bat No. 1, I wanted to get a lot of at-bats,” he said. ”Hitting in practice is different from hitting the ball in a game. There are things you feel when you hit it. My teammates are doing well, so I wanted to hit as much as possible.”
Kia is off to its best start since 2017 when it won the overall title.
It has reached the 20-win plateau faster than it did then. When asked how it compares to seven years ago, Kim said, “First of all, we’re in first place now, so the team atmosphere is really good. Hyung-woo, Hyun-jong, and Hyun-jong are all very considerate and understanding of the younger players, so the team atmosphere is much better in that regard.”
When asked how he compares to his former team, he said, “I don’t think it’s comparable. I don’t think it can be compared,” he said with a laugh, adding, ‘We had good pitching then, and we had two 20-win pitchers, and we had almost seven hitters with three hits, so I don’t think it can be compared to those days.’ In 2017, the power was stronger. Back then, Yang Hyun-jong and Hector combined for 20 wins and the team batting average was over .300.
Kia returned to the first team on Aug. 28 after captain Na Sung-beom recovered from a hamstring injury. He came in as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning of the first game and drew a walk to put runners on first and second with no outs.
Kim Sun-bin said, “Our team is just in a good mood regardless of Sung-beom’s return. It didn’t get better just because Sung-beom came, it was just good, 파워볼사이트 추천 but I think it will get better with the return of the captain,” said Kim.
Foreign pitchers Nail and Crowe have been performing well as a one-two punch. The big pitcher Yang Hyun-jong is also still going strong. Kia is still missing starter Lee Yi-ri, bullpen pitcher Lim Ki-young, and big gun Hwang Dae-in. If they can get back to full strength, they could approach their 2017 form.