The Kiwoom Heroes beat the LG Twins, who have a busy way to go, and sprinkled red pepper powder. Although they are at the bottom of the list this season, they are a legion of heroes who are playing their best until the end of the season.
Kiwoom won 9-5 in the away game of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the 11th.
Kiwoom marked 56 wins and 72 losses on the day. Although the team is at the bottom of the league standings, Kiwoom has displayed the power of the last place, which was rarely seen in the previous leagues. Furthermore, Kiwoom has 10 wins and 5 losses against LG (68 wins, 62 losses and 2 draws), the defending champion of this season. Now, Kiwoom aims to win its second straight match against LG at the last showdown of this season on Wednesday.
During five ⅓ innings (a total of 93 pitches), starting pitcher Ha Young-min marked five runs (five earned) on six hits, one walk and one hit. Notably, he displayed powerful pitching by garnering nine strikeouts. While throwing 42 sliders, 23 fork balls, 17 fastballs and 11 curves, the maximum speed of fastball was 148 kilometers. The maximum speed of slider ball speed was 142 kilometers (lowest 131 kilometers). Following Ha, Kim Sun-ki (one ⅔ inning), Kim Dong-wook (one inning), and Joo Seung-woo (one inning) took the mound in succession, contributing to the team’s victory. With 13 hits in long and short positions, Won and Song had three hits, respectively.
With one out in the top of the second inning, Won Sung-joon and Kim Byung-hwi had consecutive hits. With two outs and runners on the first and third bases, Jang Jae-young hit a timely hit to the left and Lee Ju-hyung hit a timely two-run double that fell inside the right-field line to make it 3-0. Kiwoom ran away another run in the third inning. Again, with two outs, the focus shone. After Kim Gun-hee hit a double that passed the center field height, Won Sung-joon hit a timely hit to the left-center field to bring Kim home. The score was 4-0.
While the batters were strengthening, Ha Young-min pitched well on the mound. He silenced LG’s batters by pitching perfect from the 1st to the 3rd inning. LG scored its first run in the bottom of the 4th inning. Hong Chang-ki, the leadoff batter, got on base with a double in the left-center field, and then hit home on a timely double that separates the left-center field of the follower Kim Hyun-soo.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, LG scored four runs en masse, turning the game around. It was painful for Ha Young-min to be substituted after being hit by a hit. Moon Bo-kyung scored a timely hit with runners on the first and third bases with one out, which was made up of leadoff hitter Hong Chang-ki’s hit to the left and Kim Hyun-soo’s hit to the left-center field. After Oh Ji-hwan’s walk, LG had a chance to load the bases, and pinch hitter Moon Sung-joo had an infield hit to bring in third baseman Kim Hyun-soo to its home ground.
Ha Young-min was no longer able to throw the ball on the mound after being hit by Moon Sung-joo’s ball. He passed the ball over to Kim Sun-ki and left the mound. Fortunately, he did not appear to be seriously injured. A Kiwoom official said at the time, “We replaced the ball to protect the player as he was hit in the back of his thigh by the hit ball.” LG then brought the game to square one with Lee Young-bin scoring a sacrifice RBI in the left field, and Park Hae-min hitting a timely hit to right center to make a 5-4 comeback.
However, the team did not easily back down. With runners on the first and second bases with no outs in the seventh inning, Choi Joo-hwan hit a timely hit that fell inside the left field line. Eventually, Kiwoom’s bat fired up in the top of the eighth inning. After a hit by Kim Byung-hwi’s body ball against LG bullpen Ham Deok-ju, one out, Jang Jae-young and Lee Ju-hyung drew a bases-loaded double with consecutive walks. Then, Song Sung-moon hit a three-run double against the changed LG closer Yoo Young-chan, who directly hit the fence in the middle of the right. It was the final hit of the game on the day. Choi Joo-hwan hit a timely hit to left to lead the game to 9-5, and Kiwoom won the game by keeping a four-point lead.
After the game, Kiwoom manager Hong Won-ki, the “winning pitcher,” praised the pitching staff, saying, “The starting pitcher Ha Young-min lost a point, but he did his job. Kim Sun-ki, Kim Dong-wook and Joo Seung-woo, who followed, also blocked the opponent’s batters without losing a point.”
“Batters gave points from the beginning. Song Seong-moon’s three-run timely hit in the eighth inning enabled him to win the game, and Choi Joo-hwan’s RBI single sealed the victory,” Hong also praised his offensive power. More than anything else, Hong paid attention to one scene. It was a defense that led to double play in the seventh inning. Hong Chang-ki, the leadoff batter, reached the batter’s box with a walk. However, second baseman Kim Tae-jin delivered a diving catch on Kim’s well-hit ball. To catch Hong Chang-ki, who failed to make it to the base, he calmly made a throw to the first base and made a double play. “Kim Tae-jin’s good defense is the driving force behind his victory,” Hong said.
Kiwoom has a winning percentage of 0.424. So far, the winning percentage is higher than that of Hanwha (0.420), which was ranked ninth, as well as that of Kiwoom (0.411), which ended the season at the bottom of last year. Even if we expand the scope to the last five years, it boasts a much higher winning percentage than that of Lotte (0.340), Hanwha (0.326) in the 2019 season, Hanwha (0.326) in the 2020 season, Hanwha (0.371) in the 2021 season, and Hanwha (0.324) in the 2022 season. 먹튀검증
There were also showers in the second half of the game, with 13,393 spectators at Jamsil Stadium on the day. Still, most Kiwoom fans on the third base watched the game until the end and cheered for Kiwoom players. Finally, Hong said, “Thank you to the fans for supporting us even in bad weather,” and promised, “We will prepare well for the game on the 12th.”
