KIA, LG and Double Header Both Thrilling Comeback Wins … Choi Hyung-woo, Pinch Hitter Hits Grand Slam
Hanwha continues to beat Kiwoom and has a refreshing 5-game winning streak.
Kiwoom has lost 6 times in a row, while Doosan-Samsung and NC-Lotte each exchange one win.
NC Son Ah-seop, KBO’s first 8 consecutive years with 150 hits
SSG and KT tied 8-8 in a bloody battle for 5 hours and 2 minutes. SSG falls to 5th place for the first time
The KIA Tigers rose to fourth place with thrilling comebacks in both the first and second games of the double header against the LG Twins.
KBO League
As the number of canceled games increased, the KBO League held double headers at four stadiums on the 9th to accommodate the schedule.
Only one game was played in Suwon.
Among the eight teams that played the double header, two teams laughed twice: KIA and Hanwha Eagles.
KIA came from behind to win 12-7 over leader LG in the second game of the professional baseball 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League home game doubleheader held at Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on the 9th.
Ko Jong-wook
With the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the 5th inning of Game 2 when the team was down 3-5,
pinch hitter Ko Jong-wook hit a timely hit with 1 RBI.
Ko Jong-wook clearly played the role of ‘Joker’ by hitting timely hits in both the first and second games of the double header.
When the bases were loaded with no outs again, KIA manager Kim Jong-guk presented the ‘Choi Hyeong-woo card’ that he had been saving. 바카라사이트
Choi Hyung-woo
Choi Hyung-woo hit a 146 km/h fastball from LG rookie sidearm Park Myung-geun and hit a grand slam that went over the right wall.
It was Choi Hyung-woo’s eighth grand slam in his career came at a critical moment.
This is Choi Hyung-woo’s first home run with the bases loaded as a pinch hitter.
As LG made up for one run in the top of the 6th inning and trailed 6-8,
KIA widened the gap again to 10-6, 4 points,
thanks to Na Seong-beom’s superior two-run shot from first base with no outs in the bottom of the 6th inning.
KIA Tigers
In the first game of the double header, KIA overturned the game at the end of the game.
Trailing 5-6 in the bottom of the 8th inning, with one out and runners on first and second base, Ko Jong-wook, who stepped in as a pinch hitter,
targeted Yoo Young-chan’s forkball and tied the score at 6-6 with a timely hit to right.
Kim Tae-gun hit a fly ball to left field, but Park Chan-ho hit a curveball from LG’s closer Ko Woo-seok,
who took the mound with two outs and runners on first and second base,
delivered a timely hit to turn the game around.
In the top of the 9th inning, when leadoff hitter Hong Chang-ki got on base with a walk,
LG instructed Shin Min-jae to bunt a sacrifice, giving LG the opportunity to advance to second base with one out.
However, KIA Tigers closer Jeong Hae-young kept Kim Hyun-soo and pinch hitter Seo Geon-chang through infield ground balls, preserving the team’s victory.
KIA, which suffered two consecutive losses after nine consecutive wins,
started its winning streak again by winning the first and second games of the double header.
Hanwha Eagles
Hanwha won both games 1 and 2 of the double header during their visit to Gocheok,
recorded an exciting 5-game winning streak.
In the first game, Hanwha recorded 14 hits and defeated Kiwoom Heroes 11-2.
Hanwha starter Kim Ki-joong pitched well with 7 hits, no walks, 2 strikeouts, and 2 runs in 5 innings,
earning his first win as a starter in about 2 years since the KT Wiz match on August 31, 2021.
In attack, Noh Si-hwan led the way with 3 hits and 2 RBIs in 6 at-bats.
In the second game, in the top of the 7th inning with the score tied 1-1,
Noh Si-hwan’s fly ball was raised with 2 outs and runners on first base.
The fielders delayed each other and turned it into a ‘double hit’.
Kiwoom center fielder Ronnie Dawson also misunderstood the location of the dropped ball.
Meanwhile, first base runner Oh Seon-jin hit home.
It was the final hit of the second game.
Kiwoom, the lowest ranked team, fell into a swamp of 6 consecutive losses.
NC Dinos
NC Dinos and Lotte Giants, who faced each other at Changwon NC Park, shared one win each.
The NC came from behind to win 6-5 over Lotte in the second game,
which was attended by 17,861 spectators.
Changwon NC Park, which opened in 2019, has reached full capacity for the third time in history,
following the opening game against the Samsung Lions on March 23, 2019,
the Lotte game on April 13 of that year.
At 3-4, in the bottom of the 6th inning, NC took the opportunity to reach first and third base with no outs
thanks to Oh Young-soo’s double to right-center and Kim Joo-won’s hit to right.
Pinch hitter Park Geon-woo struck out, but with one out and runners on first and third base,
pinch hitter Choi Jeong-won hit a grounder to second base to tie the score at 4-4.
Lotte second baseman Nico Goodrum threw home, but Oh Young-soo reached home first.
With the bases loaded and one out following Son Ah-seop’s walk,
Seo Ho-cheol hit a timely hit for a two-run comeback in front of right field.
Lotte trailed 5-6 in the top of the 7th inning with bases loaded and no outs
thanks to Jeon Jun-woo’s sacrifice fly to right field, but the atmosphere cooled as An Kwon-soo,
who was heading from second to third base, was tagged out.
In the first game, attended by 10,933 people, Lotte won 5-2
thanks to Jung Hoon’s two-run shot in the top of the sixth inning.
Son Ah-seop
NC Son Ah-seop hit a left-field hit in the bottom of the third inning of Game 1, becoming the first player in the KBO League to reach 150 hits for eight consecutive years.
Son Ah-seop hit more than 150 hits for eight consecutive seasons from 2016 to this year when he was a member of Lotte.
This is a new KBO League record, surpassing the ‘150 hits for 7 consecutive seasons’ achieved by KBSN Sports commentator Park Yong-taek between 2012 and 2018.
Son Ah-seop also reached 200 bases this season, becoming the second player in KBO League history to reach 200 bases for 11 consecutive seasons, following Lee Dae-ho (retired).
In Jamsil, Doosan Bears and Samsung Lions each won one game.
The first game, Samsung won 5-1 thanks to David Buchanan’s pitching of 7 hits and 1 run in 8 innings,
Doosan responded in the 2nd game with Brandon Waddell’s 7 innings and 2 hits and no runs, and took revenge 4-0.
Suwon
In Suwon, where only one game was played, KT Wiz and SSG Landers were unable to decide the winner at 8-8 even after a fierce battle in the 12th overtime.
SSG fell to 5th place after being pushed out by KIA.
This is the first time that SSG has fallen below 5th place since 2021, when it finished the regular season in 6th place.
Last year, SSG won the ‘Wire-to-Wire Championship’ by maintaining first place from the opening day of the regular season to the end date, and maintained the top ranking this year as well.
However, due to the recent slump in the two-hit group, it fell to 5th place.
On this day, the two teams played for 5 hours and 2 minutes, the longest game of the season.
The previous record was 4 hours and 58 minutes in the Hanwha-SSG match on May 14.
