Kia is short-handed on the mound. They are without starter Yoon Young-cheol, who has been on the 14-day disabled list with a stress fracture in his spine. With another starter, Hwang Dong-ha, struggling of late and closer Jung Hae-young out with an elbow injury, and the bullpen load to worry about, KIA is facing its biggest crisis since the start of the season.
Kia manager Lee Beom-ho emphasized that the team will try to take the games in which Yang Hyun-jong, James Nail, and Cam Aldred start. He replaced Yang Hyun-jong with only one out left in the game. The move, which showed a firm determination to win, paid off, and Kia earned a crucial victory.
Kia won 10-5 against Samsung Electronics on Sunday at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field. After sweeping Samsung in the last three games of the second half and LG in the first three games of the first half, the victory over Samsung Electronics, the second team to meet again in two weeks, confirmed the power of the “No. 2 killer” that can beat only No. 2 in a crisis.
Starter Yang Hyun-jong was pulled after 4.2 innings, allowing five runs on seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts on 87 pitches.
He pitched well through the third inning, but was hit hard in the top of the fourth. After taking a 3-0 lead in the second, he gave up a single, walk and double to Kang Min-ho, Lee Sung-kyu and Kim Young-woong to score two runs before giving up an RBI single to Park Byung-ho in the seventh. After taking a 3-0 lead against Samsung starter Denny Reyes in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Kim Do-young and a two-run homer by Choi Hyung-woo in the bottom of the inning, KIA tied the game at 3-3 on a three-run homer by Yang Hyun-jong.
The Kia bats came through. In the bottom of the fourth inning, leadoff hitter Seo Gun-chang singled to retire Reyes after three innings, then 토토사이트 Han Jun-soo, Socrates, Kim Do-young and Choi Hyung-woo drew walks off right-hander Kim Yoon-soo. Back-to-back pinch-hit singles made it 5-3, and with two outs, Na Sung-beom hit a two-run homer to right to make it 9-3.
But in the top of the fifth, Yang Hyun-jong struck again. After giving up a leadoff triple to No. 9 Ryu Ji-hyuk, he gave up a double to No. 2 Lee Jae-hyun and a single to No. 2 Kang Min-ho to score two runs, making it 9-5. After another walk to Lee Sung-gyu in the fifth put runners on second and third, Kia pitching coach Jung Jae-hoon took to the mound. With a four-run lead and just one out away from the winning run, Yang Hyun-jong was pulled after 87 pitches. For the first time this season, he came off the mound before the fifth inning. It was Lee Bum-ho’s game-winning pitch.
Left-hander Kim Dae-yoo came in and struck out No. 6 Kim Young-woong to end the game. In the top of the sixth, Lee Hyung-beom came on and with runners on second and third, Lim Ki-young came in to get out of the inning and lasted 1.1 innings until the seventh. Kwak Do-gyu came on in the eighth and Jeon Sang-hyun in the ninth to close out the game without allowing any more runs.
Kia manager Lee Beom-ho said, “We brought up Kim Dae-yoo in the top of the fifth inning with runners on second and third because we thought it was the key to the game. The bullpen was strong, with Lim Ki-young throwing 1.1 innings of perfect relief.” ”I’m thankful that all the players did a good job despite the team’s bad situation. We will continue to play a winning game tomorrow with our fans.”