The KIA Tigers secured the Winning Series by winning two consecutive games against the LG Twins, which could have been a crisis. The series is unfolding, with manager Lee Bum-ho’s pulpit shining and at the same time giving off the scent of a master.
KIA Tigers won 14-4 in an away game between the LG Twins and 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the 17th.
With the victory, KIA led the league by itself with 67 wins, 46 losses and two draws. KIA has won three consecutive games. The gap between the two teams had widened from four games before the start of this series to six games. The gap between the two teams, which jumped to second place after beating LG, is 5.5 games. KIA had 11 wins and three losses against LG in this season.
The games were overwhelming in both offense and defense. As the starting pitcher of the Kia Tigers, Lauer pitched five innings (108 pitches), allowing four hits, four walks, seven strikeouts, and one run (one earned run) to achieve his first win of this season in two games since his debut in the KBO. Lauer threw a mixture of 56 fastballs, 34 cutters, 15 curves, two changeups, and one slider, and the maximum speed of his fastballs was 151 km.
Following Kim Dae-yu, Lee Joon-young each took charge of one inning and Kim Sa-yoon pitched two innings to end the game with a victory. Socrates made three hits (one homer) and one RBI and three runs from five times at bat, while Na Sung-bum made three hits from three times at bat (one homer) and one RBI and two runs from three times at bat, respectively. Kim Sun-bin and Han Jun-su also contributed by making multi hits. KIA became the fifth team to have 49,000 hits in the KBO league. Kim also became the 69th player in the KBO league to post 2,000 hits. 메이저사이트
Kia gave up the first run in the bottom of the third inning, but ended the game 2-1 by combining Na Sung-bum’s tying solo shot and Park Chan-ho’s sacrifice fly RBI in the fifth inning. In addition, the team produced a big inning in which it scored nine runs in the sixth inning, effectively determining its win. Notably, Kim Do-young hit his second grand slam in the sixth inning, confirming Kia’s commitment to chase down the opponent team. Socrates also boosted his momentum with consecutive homeruns as a batter. The score was 11-1 before long. Eventually, Kia added Kim Sun-bin’s three-run double in the eighth inning to win the game 14-4.
After the game, “Seungjang” coach Lee Bum-ho said, “I think we got a valuable result of winning because all players know the importance of this series well.”
Manager Lee then said, “Despite the large number of pitches, starting pitcher Lauer took charge of five innings, laying the foundation for the team’s victory. The number of pitches was high, but it was a pitch that felt the ball power. Congratulations on your first win in the KBO League,” celebrating the debut victory of a new foreign pitcher at the end of the season.
“All hitters performed well in batting. It was a game where everyone played well, including Na Sung-bum’s tiebreaking home run, Kim Sun-bin who scored an RBI after a tenacious game, and Han Jun-su’s two-run timely hit and Kim Do-young’s grand slam,” Lee continued. “Congratulations on Kim Sun-bin’s achievement of 2,000 hits.”
Lee praised the players, but in fact, Lee deserves more praise than anyone else. In the game on the 16th, he fiercely protested Oh Ji-hwan’s decision to check swing at the end of the eighth inning, and made a reprimand change to drastically remove Park Chan-ho, who played loose before the defense at the end of the eighth inning. He seemed to have a strong point. All of these should have contained a message to the team. And it is no exaggeration to say that the players responded properly as a result.
Finally, Lee said, “I think our come-from-behind victory on the 16th game also had a positive impact on the game on the 17th. As we have secured the Winning Series, we will have a good game on the 18th as well. We ask for your continued support from fans,” in expressing gratitude for the victory. In the match on the 18th, Kia will have James Nail and LG will have Detrick Nence as the starting players, respectively. Will Kia be able to successfully sweep the three consecutive games by banking on its momentum? Kia’s fans have high expectations.