After finishing his last at-bat, Jonathan Peraza of the Hanwha Eagles excitedly pointed at the KIA Tigers’ bench. KIA manager Lee Bum-ho stepped out of the dugout for a while with an expression of incomprehension, before turning his foot to the referee’s dissuasion. Why did he do that.
The problem began when Peraza collided with Kim Do-young, Kia’s main third baseman. At the top of the eighth inning with two outs and runners on the first and second bases, when the team was tying 3-3 at the match against KIA in Gwangju on Saturday last week, Peraza was on the second base. Jang hit a ground ball towards third baseman Kim Do-young, and since second baseman Peraza had two outs, he sprinted toward third base as usual.
At this time, Kim Do-young and Peraza, who were trying to catch the ball, collided greatly. Kim Do-young was moving just by looking at the ball, and Peraza had no way to avoid it when Kim Do-young chased the ball into his lane while playing at full strength. The two players collided greatly as it was, and Kim Do-young’s impact was greater on the side that hit it strictly. Jang Jin-hyuk got on base with a ground ball to the third base, but the inning ended when Peraza was out due to defense interference.
Kim was replaced before the defense in the top of the ninth inning. “I hit my head during the collision and was replaced due to dizziness. I don’t have a plan for a hospital checkup,” an official at Kia said.
It could not have been intentional. If he bumps into Kim, the game ends with an out. With one win and one run desperately needed to advance to the fifth round, he had no reason to do so. “Kim Do-young was in a position to grab the ball to the shortstop, and Peraza also tried to avoid it, but the line overlapped,” said Lee Dae-hyeong, a baseball commentator at SPOTV who broadcast the game.
Peraza also had a shock of collision, but as soon as he woke up, he approached Kim Do-young to look at him who fell on the ground. Peraza looked at Kim Do-young with worried eyes, and when Kim Do-young was about to get up, he was caught on the broadcast screen expressing his regret with his back pressed.
As Kim Do-young returned to the dugout, the case was over, but Kia’s head coach Son Seung-rak approached Peraza and said something on the broadcast screen. From this point on, Peraza’s face began to harden, and Hanwha’s head coach Yang Seung-kwan, who was next to Peraza, stopped Coach Sohn by holding his arm. Since Peraza is a foreign player, he may not have been able to understand Son’s remarks immediately, but the nuances are fully understandable. There were also interpretations from Yang Seung-kwan and Peraza, so it was possible to guess that Coach Son did not say anything good. KIA admitted that there was a point made by the team toward Peraza. 먹튀검증
Peraza made an unexpected move by pointing fingers at Kia’s bench in the top of the 10th inning as Sohn pointed out that he was angry even though he apologized enough when he was unintentionally. After one out, he swung and missed all three sliders on Jang Hyun-sik’s consecutive pitches, and struck out the ball. The situation could have become serious as Lee Bum-ho stepped out of the dugout, but the situation was settled as soon as he stepped down after hearing the referee’s explanation. Hanwha said, “Regarding Peraza’s unexpected behavior, it was in the aftermath of being criticized by the KIA team about Kim Do-young’s collision.”
There was reason for the KIA team to be sensitive to Peraza. Kim Do-young entered the batter’s box in the bottom of the fifth inning against the Gwangju LG Twins on the 3rd and was hit in the left elbow by a 150km/h fastball thrown by opposing starter Eliaser Hernandez. Kim Do-young was wearing an elbow guard, but the impact was so great that he collapsed on his knees at the batter’s box for a while and couldn’t stand up. Kim Do-young went straight to the hospital for a checkup.
Kia’s players, who thought it was a serious injury, could not hide their excitement at the time. Kim Do-young is a key player of Kia, which aims to win the title in seven years after 2017. As Kim is challenging to become the first Korean batter to hit 40 homers and 40 steals, he should not leave the team due to injury, but the most important thing is to win the title. As Kim is an indispensable player in Kia’s plan to win the title, when Kim Do-young falls down, the team gets sensitive. In fact, the team accepted the situation with such a sensitive stance that some players doubted Hernandez’s empty ball.
“It can’t be an empty ball. If DOYOUNG leaves when LG also needs to win, it will be (Choi) Hyung-woo and (B) Sung-bum.” It was not like he had a home run hit by DOYOUNG, and there was no reason for him to throw such a ball. As he threw his body, he fell out. It happens frequently to hitters. I don’t think there is anything like that emotional about it. DOYOUNG put the matter to an end, saying, “Fortunately, I was able to play in the game because it was my arm, and I think it’s right not to pay too much attention.”
Two days after the dune accident, when Kim Do-young collided with Peraza, the KIA team seemed to show a sensitive reaction. However, it was not intentional, and even though Peraza apologized enough, coach Son continued to point out excessive points, which deeply hurt each other.
