KIA Tigers Kim Do-young wrote an interesting record in professional baseball history.
KIA won 13-2 in an away game against Kiwoom Heroes in the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Gocheok Sky Dome on the 25th.
KIA, which swept all three consecutive games against Kiwoom, firmly maintained its No. 1 position as it became the first team to win 20 games (seven losses) among the 10 teams this season. The record was even more meaningful as Kia has at least 20 wins in its club games, exceeding 28 in 1993 and 2017.
Kiwoom’s hit line at KIA… Pitchers are “been punishment.”
When a hit ball by Lee Woo-sung’s pitch, Socrates Brito’s hit to the right, and Kim Sun-bin’s walk gave Kia a chance to get the bases loaded, Kim Tae-gun hit a timely two-run shot, leading the game. Soon after, Choi Won-joon’s walk and Park Chan-ho’s infield hit made the game 4-0.
In the fifth inning, Kim Do-young, the leadoff hitter, hit a solo home run by hitting a fastball in the middle of Kiwoom Kim Sun-ki’s first pitch.
Kia’s firepower never cooled down. With no outs and full base chances made by Choi Hyung-woo, Lee Woo-sung, and Socrates with three consecutive hits, Kim Sun-bin’s timely hit in the middle, Kim Tae-gun’s pushback, and Choi Won-jun’s timely two-run hit exploded like fireworks, instantly running away to 8-0.
Kiwoom, which had been silent about KIA starter Yang Hyun-jong’s hard pitching, fought back in the fifth inning when Kim Hwi-jip fired a two-run shot.
However, Kia’s Kim Do-young, Choi Hyung-woo and Lee Woo-sung hit consecutive doubles in the eighth inning, and Socrates’ timely hit added four more runs, putting a damper on Kiwoom’s pursuit. In the ninth inning, Choi Won-joon even hit a solo home run to crush the Kiwoom mound.
On the mound, Yang Hyun-jong saved his second win of the season by blocking Kiwoom’s batters with four hits and two runs in seven innings. Kim Geon-guk, who followed, also secured the victory by allowing one hit and no run in two innings.
10 home runs and 10 steals in a month… Oh, that’s right
Winning pitcher Yang set a new milestone of 170 wins (114 losses) overall. Song Jin-woo (210-153 losses) and Yang are the only pitchers who have won more than 170 games in the KBO League.
However, Yang’s milestone was overshadowed by Kim’s true record. Kim hit a solo homer on the day, and hit 10 homers in April alone. Adding 11 steals, he became the first player in the KBO league to record 10 homers-10 steals per month.
It is a record that Lee Jong-beom, who was called the epitome of “hotajun,” or Eric Thames, who joined the first 40 home runs and 40 steals club in 2015 in the history of the 메이저사이트 KBO League. However, Son Ah-seop (NC Dinos), who played for the Lotte Giants in August 2017, recorded 9 home runs and 10 steals.
Kim was even called the “Second Lee Jong-beom” since he was evaluated as having good pitching, water and main skills since high school. Kia has high expectations for Kim Do-young in the 2022 Rookie Draft, not “fire bowler” Moon Dong-ju (Hanwha Eagles).
However, in the first year of his debut, he was sluggish with a batting average of 0.237 with three homers and 13 steals in 2022, and in 2023, he hit 0.333 with seven homers and 25 steals, but he played only 84 games due to injury.
In six games in March this year, he had only 4 hits in 26 times at bat (0.154 batting average) and had no home runs or stolen bases, but in April, he is leading KIA’s No. 1 run by performing tremendously as if he had become a completely different player.
Attention is focusing on whether Kim Do-young, who achieved a true record that Lee Jong-beom could not do, will grow into a new franchise star of KIA to meet expectations.