The KIA Tigers have won three straight games.
Kia scored one run in the eighth inning and three in the ninth for a 6-2 victory after a 2-2 tie in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League against the KT Wiz at Katie Wiz Park in Suwon on Sunday. Kia has won three straight games, starting with a victory over the Incheon SSG Landers on May 5. On the 6th, they even moved up one spot from 9th to 8th.
KIA had a tumultuous last month. It started June in 5th place, dropped to 6th on the 2nd, moved to 7th on the 21st, 8th on the 22nd, and finished the month in 9th place on the 30th. The monthly winning percentage was 0.318 (7 wins, 1 tie, 15 losses), good for 9th overall. The team had a 5.20 team ERA (10th) and a .239 batting average (10th).
After placing Adonis Medina on waivers on April 4, KIA acquired Mario Sanchez, the top pitcher in Taiwan’s CPBL, two days later on April 6, and staggered the same day to bring back Thomas Pannoni and parted ways with Shawn Anderson. And on the fifth, they traded catcher Kim Tae-gun for all-weather infielder Ryu Ji-hyuk, even if it meant bleeding money.
The return of injured players also boosted the team’s morale. Infielder Kim Do-young, who fractured a metatarsal in his right foot while running the bases against SSG on April 2, two days after the opening day, and outfielder Na Sung-bum, who hadn’t played since before the season due to a calf muscle injury, were both added to the first team roster on April 23.
Kim is batting .370 with 17 hits in 46 at-bats (2 home runs), 6 RBIs, 9 runs scored, 5 doubles in 10 games since his return. In particular, he’s had three straight multi-hit games, totaling 15 hits and eight RBIs. Na Sung-beom is also giving the team what it wants, going 14-for-42 with three home runs, eight RBIs, seven runs scored, a .333 on-base percentage and a .619 slugging percentage in 10 games. Kim Tae-gun, who joined the team on the 5th, is 3-for-8 with a home run and four RBIs in three games.
The bullpen also has more cards to play in close games with the return of closer Jung Hae-young on the 2nd. Choi Ji-min, who has pitched 40 innings in 35 games, the most on the team even in his second year, and Lim Ki-young, who has pitched 50 innings in all-weather, the most of any professional bullpen pitcher in the league, were already facing health issues, but the bullpen was thickened by the return of Jeon Sang-hyun on the 17th of last month and Jung Hae-young this month.
Hwang Dae-in, who was injured against KT on July 7, is out for the first half with a partial hamstring tear, but Kim Sun-bin, who recovered from a fractured finger, is set to return. Kim appeared in four games in the Futures League from June 30 to July 6, going 5-for-12 with a .417 batting average. Now, with Panoni and Sanchez on the mound, the team is more or less complete.토스카지노
There have been a lot of bumps and bruises in the road since the start of the season, with free agency, foreign players, and trades, but the team is still only three games behind fourth-place NC and Lotte, and one game behind sixth-place Kiwoom as of day seven. The fuel for the chase is now being filled. Can KIA unleash the tiger spirit as the weather heats up?