Heroes hung their heads.
The Kiwoom Heroes, coached by Hong Won-ki, fell to their second straight defeat after losing their sixth game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League against KT Wiz 0-3 at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, South Korea, on Friday.
Kiwoom had some disappointing plays on the day. The mound did its job. Eric Yokishi pitched five innings of two-run ball, Ha Young-min pitched one scoreless inning, Won Jong-hyun pitched 0.2 innings of one-run ball, and Kim Dong-hyuk pitched 1.1 scoreless innings. Despite giving up 11 hits to KT’s bats, they were held to three runs.
Kiwoom hung his head. Photo by Kim Young-gu메이저사이트
However, Yasujin’s silence and defensive concentration were disappointing.
First, let’s look at the defense in the second inning. Jang Jang-woo, the leadoff hitter, singled. Kim Min-hyuk then grounded out to load the bases with one out. He faced Park Kyung-soo. Kim Min-hyuk stole second on a grounder up the middle, and then Park hit a fly ball between left field and center field. It was an easy catch, but left fielder Lim Ji-yeol and center fielder Lee Jung-hoo missed the call. No one caught it. It was missed. Instead of runners on second and third, it was first and third. Yokishi hung his head. Lee Ho-yeon singled to center field, scoring Kim Min-hyuk. The lead was gone.
Then came the seventh inning. Trailing 0-2, Won Jong-hyun came up after Yokishi and Ha Young-min. He gave up a double to leadoff hitter Park Kyung-soo. He was replaced by Lee Sang-ho. The next batter, Lee Ho-yeon, hit a popup toward the first baseman. First baseman Lee Won-seok corrected and threw to third, but third baseman Kim Hwi-jip made a bad throw that was impossible to catch, allowing Lee Sang-ho to score from second to third. Lee Won-seok hung his head.
His defense was shaky, and his bat was quiet. Kim Hye-seong had a multi-hit game, but no follow-up hit. She was silent with five hits. She walked the leadoff batter in the sixth and had runners on first and second with no outs in the seventh, but couldn’t capitalize. In the ninth inning, leadoff hitter Lim Ji-yeol singled but was unable to follow up. Lee Won-seok battled Kim Jae-yoon for 13 pitches to try and get a run across, but was thrown out at the plate.
In the end, Kiwoom fell to their second straight loss and failed to rebound in the standings. With 19 wins and 26 losses, Kiwoom is now in eighth place, 1.5 games behind the ninth-place Hanwha Eagles. The defense was lackluster and the bats were quiet. They only managed to earn a total of four points in the three-game midweek series.
Kiwoom will have something to smile about tomorrow, as they host the Lotte Giants for a three-game weekend series at Gochuk from the 26th to the 28th. Ariel Furado is expected to start on the 26th.