The KIA Tigers kept their fall baseball hopes alive by sweeping the Kiwoom Heroes and sweeping the fifth-place Doosan Bears.
KIA cruised to an 11-0 victory over Kiwoom in the 2023 Shinhan Bank Solar KBO League at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field on Wednesday.
With 70 wins, two draws and 68 losses, KIA closed the gap on fifth-place Doosan, which lost on the day, to two games.
Kiwoom, which saw its three-game winning streak come to an end, dropped back to the bottom of the table with 58 points (3 wins, 3 draws, 82 losses), losing the ninth spot to the Hanwha Eagles (56 points, 6 draws, 79 losses).
KIA left-handed ace Yang Hyun-jong was outstanding.
Yang held the Kiwoom bats scoreless over eight innings, allowing just six hits. He struck out six and walked none. With support from the bats, he picked up his eighth win of the season (11-2).
The KIA offense pounded out nine hits and drew seven walks. Socrates Brito led the way with a 5-for-3 performance with two RBIs, while Ko Jong-wook (5-for-2, 1 RBI, 2 runs scored) and Kim Sun-bin (4-for-2, 1 RBI, 2 runs scored) also had multi-hit games.
Kim, who has 1,499 career hits, surpassed the 1,500-hit mark.
KIA scored six runs in the second inning to take control of the game.
In the bottom of the inning, three walks loaded the bases, and Kim Kyu-sung’s infield single was followed by a throwing error by the opposing shortstop, allowing two runners to reach base.
With runners on second and third, Kim Do-young’s infield single scored Kim Ho-ryung from third, and Ko Jong-wook followed with a single up the middle.
After loading the bases again on an error and a Socrates single, KIA scored two more runs on Lee Woo-sung’s grounder to third base and an error by the opposition.
Kiwoom’s three errors in one inning cost them the early lead.
After scoring a run in the bottom of the third on Kim Sun-bin’s RBI single, KIA added four more runs in the top of the fifth.
In the top of the fifth, Kim Do-young singled up the middle, and after back-to-back singles by Ko Jong-wook and Kim Sun-bin, Socrates hit a two-run double to right field.
Lee Woo-sung’s grounder to shortstop scored Kim Sun-bin from third, giving KIA an 11-0 lead and cementing the win.
Despite the large deficit, Yang Hyun-jong pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
On the mound for Kiwoom, starter Lee Jong-min collapsed after giving up four runs (two earned) in one inning, while Lee Myung-jong was shaky in the third inning, giving up five runs on six hits in three innings. Lee Jong-min suffered his first professional loss.
At Sajik Stadium, the Lotte Giants defeated the Dusan 14-3.
Lotte (67-73), which was eliminated from the postseason (PS) with a loss the previous day, sprinkled “chili powder” on Doosan, which is busy on its way to fifth-place Mercury, and also won its final home game.
With their second straight loss, Doosan fell to 71 wins, two draws and 65 losses, widening their gap to 1.5 games over third-place SSG Landers (73 wins, three draws and 64 losses) and NC Dinos (73 wins, two draws and 64 losses), who did not play on the day.
The Lotte bats pounded the Doosan mound with 17 hits, long and short.
Jeong-hoon went 4-for-4 with a home run, two RBIs and four runs scored, while Kim Min-seok doubled with six hits, two RBIs and one run scored.
Park Se-woong, who returned to the team after winning gold at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, received solid support from the bats, allowing three runs on six hits with six strikeouts and two walks in six innings to pick up his ninth win of the season (seven starts).
Doosan starter Choi Won-jun suffered his 10th loss of the season (3-3) after giving up three runs on five hits (one home run) in 1⅔ innings.
Tied 1-1 in the second inning, Lotte scored two runs on Yoo Kang-nam’s solo home run to left (his 10th of the season) and Noh Jin-hyuk’s RBI single to left, then increased the lead to 5-1 in the third inning when Kim Min-seok doubled to right with runners on second and third.
Doosan gave up a run in the top of the fourth inning, but responded with three runs in the next at-bat.
In the bottom of the fourth, Noh Jin-hyuk and Ahn Chi-hong hit back-to-back doubles, and Jung Hoon singled up the middle with runners 토토사이트 on first and second. After Yoo Kang-nam was hit by a pitch and Kim Min-seok singled, Park Seung-wook drew a walk to load the bases.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Yoo Kang-nam doubled to left center with runners on first and second, and Noh Jin-hyuk drew a bases-loaded walk to extend the lead to 11-3.
LOTTE added a run in the bottom of the seventh and two more in the top of the eighth on an RBI single by Jeon Jun-woo and a wild pitch by Yoon Dong-hee.