The KIA Tigers rode an eight-inning no-hitter from Yang Hyun-jong to a sweep of the Kiwoom Heroes to keep their fall baseball hopes alive.

KIA completed an 11-0 sweep of Kiwoom in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Gwangju-KIA Champions Field on Nov. 11. With the win, KIA improved to 70-2-68 on the season and closed the gap on the fifth-place Doosan Bears (71-2-65), who lost to the Lotte Giants earlier in the day, to two games. KIA has four games remaining. KIA will face Lotte at home on the 12th, Doosan at Jamsil Stadium on the 13th, and the NC Dinos on the 16th and 17th.

Kiwoom’s starting lineup: Kim Hye-sung (second base), Dawson (center field), Lee Ju-hyung (designated hitter), Kim Hwi-jip (shortstop), Song Sung-moon (third base), Lim Ji-yeol (first base), Park Chan-hyuk (left field), Kim Dong-heon (catcher), Park Su-jong (right field). Starting pitcher Lee Jong-min.

KIA starting lineup: Kim Do-young (third base), Ko Jong-wook (designated hitter), Kim Sun-bin (second base), Socrates (right field), Lee Woo-sung (left field), Kim Tae-gun (catcher), Byun Woo-hyuk (first base), Kim Ho-ryung (center field), Kim Kyu-sung (shortstop). Starting pitcher Yang Hyun-jong.

The first inning was scoreless. In the bottom of the first, KIA had runners on second and third after Kim Do-young grounded out to second base on an eight-pitch count, Go Jong-woo struck out to load the bases, Kim Sun-bin was hit by a pitch, and Socrates doubled to left, but Lee Woo-sung struck out swinging.

The Kia bats exploded for six runs in the bottom of the second inning to take the lead. Lee Jong-min was shaky and allowed three consecutive singles to Kim Tae-gun, Byun Woo-hyuk, and Kim Ho-ryung to load the bases. Kim Kyu-sung reached on an error by the shortstop, allowing Kim Tae-gun and Byun Woo-hyuk to cross the plate. After the pitching change to Ha Young-min, Kim Do-young’s grounder brought in Kim Ho-ryung to make the score 3-0.

With runners on first and third, Ko Jong-wook singled up the middle to bring in Kim Kyu-sung. Kim Sun-bin followed with an error to left field to put runners on first and second for KIA, and after Socrates singled to right field to load the bases, Ko Jong-wook scored on Lee Woo-sung’s grounder. Kim Tae-gun then reached on an error by the third baseman, bringing in Kim Sun-bin to extend the score to 6-0.

After the big inning in the bottom of the second, KIA added one more run in the top of the third against reliever Lee Myung-jong. Kim Ho-ryung drew a walk after a grueling nine-pitch at-bat, and after Kim Kyu-sung singled to left field, Kim Do-young walked to put runners on first and second. A groundout by Ko Jong-wook advanced the runners to second and third, and an infield single by Kim Sun-bin brought home Kim Ho-ryung to extend KIA’s lead to 7-0.

The Kiwoom bats, on the other hand, struggled to get anything going against Yang Hyun-jong. In the top of the first, Kim Hye-sung walked and Dawson singled to left, but Lee Joo-hyung popped out to end the inning. In the top of the second, Kim Hwijip and Song Sung-moon were retired on grounders, and Lim Ji-yeol struck out.

In the top of the third inning, Kiwoom got Park Chan-hyuk to ground out to third base, Kim Dong-heon to strike out, and Park Soo-jong to fly out to first base. In the top of the fourth, Kim Hye-sung grounded out to first base, Dawson flied out to center field, and Lee Joo-hyung singled to center field, but Kim Hwijip was thrown out at the plate.

After a Song Sung-moon infield single and walks to Lim Ji-yeol and Park Chan-hyuk in the top of the fifth, KIA added four more runs in the bottom of the inning. After Kim Ho-ryung doubled, Kim Kyu-sung flied out to right field, but Kim Do-young singled to bring home Kim Ho-young. Back-to-back singles by Ko Jong-wook and Kim Sun-bin loaded the bases, and Socrates’ RBI double scored two more runs. Lee Woo-sung’s grounder brought in Kim Sun-bin to extend the lead to 11-0.

After that, neither team scored another run and KIA took control of the game. In the top of the sixth, Yang Hyun-jong got Kim Dong-heon to fly out to shortstop on the second pitch and Park Soo-jong and Kim Hye-sung to fly out to right field and ground out to first base, respectively, to end the inning with just four pitches. In the top of the seventh, after Dawson struck out on three pitches, Lee Ju-hyung singled to shortstop, but Kim Hwijip struck out and Song Sung-moon grounded out to third to end the inning.

In the top of the eighth, Yang Hyun-jong, who was also on the mound, gave up back-to-back singles to Park Chan-hyuk and Kim Dong-heon after Lim Ji-yeol grounded out to shortstop to load the bases, but he got Kim Hye-sung to fly out to third and Ye Jin-won to ground out to second to end the inning without allowing a run.

With 78 pitches in the top of the seventh inning, Yang Hyun-jong could have gotten the win, but with the game tied in the top of the eighth, he turned the mound over to Kim Seung-hyun in the top of the ninth. Kim gave up a leadoff single to Song Jae-sun, but got Kim Byung-hwi to fly out to left field and Song Sung-moon to fly out to center field before striking out Lim Ji-yeol on a slider to end the game.

KIA starter Yang Hyun-jong threw eight innings on 97 pitches, allowing six hits and no walks while striking out six to improve to 8-1 on the season. He was followed by Kim Seung-hyun, who closed out the game with one inning of one-hit, one-strikeout ball. Kiwoom, on the other hand, had a tough time with starter Lee Jong-min, who gave up four runs (two earned) on one hit and two walks with four errors in one inning.

At the plate, Socrates had three hits and two RBIs, while Go Jong-wook and Kim Sun-bin each had two hits, one RBI and two runs scored. Kim Do-young 메이저토토사이트 also stood out with one hit, two RBIs and one run scored, while Lee Woo-sung chipped in with two hits. Lee Joo-hyung was the only INR player to record a multi-hit game for a Kiwoom batting lineup that managed just seven sporadic hits.