The Doosan Bears continued their frightening first-half surge with a seventh straight win in Pajuk. The players responded to their manager’s call for a “total war” at the start of July with their performance.
Doosan won the 10th game of the season against the Kiwoom Heroes of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League 5-2 at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on July 8. The team extended its winning streak to seven games and moved two games clear of the NC Dinos and Lotte Giants for third place in the standings.
Doosan came out with the following batting order: Jung Soo-bin (center fielder), Kim Jae-ho (shortstop), Rojas (right fielder), Yang Ji (catcher), Kim Jae-hwan (left fielder), Yang Suk-hwan (designated hitter), Kang Seung-ho (first baseman), Park Jun-young (third baseman), and Lee Yoo-chan (second baseman). The starting pitcher was ace Raul Alcantara.
Kiwoom’s lineup was Song Sung-moon (3B), Kim Hye-sung (2B), Lee Jung-hoo (CF), Lee Hyung-jong (designated hitter), Kim Woong-bin (1B), Park Joo-hong (LF), Lee Ji-young (catcher), Kim Joo-hyung (shortstop), and Kim Jun-wan (right fielder). Right-hander Choi Won-tae started against Alcantara.
The first run came from Kiwoom. In the top of the third inning, after a leadoff single by Kim Joo-hyung and a sacrifice bunt by Kim Jun-wan, Song Sung-moon, who was strong against Alcantara, hit a two-run double to make it 1-0.
Doosan quickly answered back. In the bottom of the fourth inning, leadoff hitter Jung Soo-bin singled and Kim Jae-ho’s sacrifice bunt put runners on first and second, but Rojas was retired on an infield grounder, and Yang Ji-ji singled and Kim Jae-hwan was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
The Doosan bats were focused here. After Yang tied the game at 1-1 with a push single, Kang Seung-ho hit his first career grand slam to make it 5-1.
Doosan then eased out of the game as Alcantara did his part with six innings of two-run Quality Start+ pitching, although he did give up an RBI double to Kim Woong-bin in the top of the sixth.
Taking over the mound, Doosan’s pitching staff was also strong. Kim Myung-shin, Jung Chul-won, and Hong Gun-hee combined for a scoreless first inning to keep Kiwoom at bay and preserve the 5-2 lead.
Doosan remained in sixth place through June with a season record of 33 wins, 36 losses and one tie. On June 30, they hung their heads in shame with an extra-inning, walk-off loss to the Lotte Giants in Ulsan. The team was more concerned with getting back to five wins and turning things around than jumping to the top of the standings.
However, Doosan rebounded at the start of July. Head coach Lee Seung-yeop sent a clear message to his team when he declared a total war for the remainder of the first half against Ulsan, and the winning streak has continued ever since.토스카지노
On the mound, Doosan has a team ERA of 1.83 in July, and at the plate, the team is batting .291 with a perfect two-hit balance. Much of this has been due to foreign-born Rojas, who is batting .381 (8-for-21) with four RBIs and a 1.091 OPS.
Manager Lee Seung-yeop went out of his way to revive the slumping Rojas, assigning hitting coach Lee Young-soo to work exclusively with him, and Rojas has begun to repay the team’s efforts.
Doosan’s returning foreign-born pitcher Brandon Waddell, who replaced the injured Dylan Pyle, has been outstanding, going 1-1 with a 0.90 ERA in three games.
Doosan will look to ride the momentum and make it eight straight wins against Kiwoom on the 9th. Choi Won-jun, the oldest member of the Korean starting lineup, will start the game.