Doosan’s Kang Seung-ho scored a cycling hit, while LG secured the top spot during a rainy cold snap.
The Doosan Bears of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) won the “fifth place war” against the KIA Tigers behind the bat of Kang Seung-ho, who achieved a cycling hit (a single and a home run in the same game).
Doosan came from behind to win 8-6 against visiting KIA in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on Friday.
Riding a five-game winning streak, sixth-ranked Doosan eliminated the gap between itself and fifth-place Kia and cruised to the top of the fall baseball standings.
Doosan (0.521 winning percentage) and KIA (0.522 winning percentage) are separated by just one run (0.001).
It was KIA who set the tone in the middle of the game.
Trailing 1-2 in the fourth inning, Lee Woo-sung hit a game-winning home run off Doosan starter Brandon Waddell.
It was Lee’s seventh home run of the season and his first career grand slam.
After Doosan tied the game at 5-5 in the top of the fifth on a Kang Seung-ho RBI triple and an RBI single by Heo Kyung-min, KIA regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth on a Kim Sun-bin RBI double.
After a brief lull, the game reignited in the eighth inning.
Park Jun-young, who came in as a pinch-hitter for leadoff hitter Cho Sun-sung, hit a pinch-hit home run to tie the game at 6-6.
It was Park’s third home run of the season and his first career pinch-hit home run.
In the ninth inning, the Kia bullpen took advantage of a self-inflicted wound with four walks and scored two runs on a passed ball to take the win.
Kang Seung-ho, batting sixth for Doosan, went 4-for-4 with one home run, one walk, three RBI and three runs scored.
After drawing a walk in his first at-bat, Seung-ho hit his sixth home run of the season off KIA starter Yoon Young-chul with the bases loaded in the third inning.
In the fifth inning, he hit a triple to right-center field with runners on first and third, the most difficult gateway to a cycling hit, and in the sixth inning, he hit a double to left field with no outs.
He completed the cycle with an infield hit in the ninth inning.
With the bases loaded and one out, Kang Seung-ho took a four-pitch at-bat from KIA’s sixth pitcher, Jeon Sang-hyun.
The pitch deflected off Jeon’s leg and bounced back, allowing Seung-ho to cross the plate and celebrate with a big smile.
The cycling hit is the 30th in baseball history, the sixth for Doosan, and the first this season.
The last cycling hit was achieved by Lee Jung-hoo (Kiwoom Heroes) on October 25, 2021, against the Hanwha Eagles in Daejeon.
In Daejeon, the LG Twins, who used Lee as a set-up man and closer, beat Hanwha 4-3 in a rain-shortened seventh inning to snap a three-game losing streak.
The gap between them and second-place KT WIZ, who did not play on the day, widened back to 5.5 games.
LG took the lead in the top of the second inning on a single by Oh Ji-hwan and a double by Moon Bo-kyung.
Hanwha answered back in the bottom of the second with a Nick Williams RBI double to tie the game, then scored two runs two batters later on back-to-back doubles by Moon Hyun-bin and Kim Tae-yeon.
LG regained the lead in the third inning.
After leadoff hitter Park Hae-min reached on an error and stole second, the next batter, Hong Chang-ki, drew a walk and stole third to put runners on first and third with no outs.
A squeeze bunt by Shin Min-jae made it 2-3, and Kim Hyun-soo followed with a single to tie the game.
In the fifth inning, Shin Min-jae doubled and Austin Dean followed with a game-winning single to bring home Shin.
In the top of the seventh inning, the game was suspended due to heavy rain, and after waiting 47 minutes, the fourth rain delay of the season was called.
In Changwon, the NC Dinos defeated the Samsung Lions 8-1, led by Kim Joo-won’s wedge home run.
Third-place NC closed the gap to half a game on second-place KT WIZ, who did not play on the day.
Leading 2-1, NC scored six runs in the eighth inning to take the lead.
After scoring one run on a squeeze bunt by Kwon Hee-dong and one run on an infield single by Seo Ho-cheol, NC seized the game with a grand slam home run by Kim Joo-won.
Kim took a six-pitch pitch from Choi Ha-neul and smashed it over the right field fence for a grand slam.
It was Kim’s 10th home run of the season and his fourth career grand slam.
In Busan, the Lotte Giants won 5-4 in extra innings against the Kiwoom Heroes.
Lotte tied the game in the eighth inning after leading 4-3 on a Kim Soo-hwan RBI double.
After failing to tie the game in the regular innings, the teams traded runs in the 10th.
Lotte loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the 10th after Noh Jin-hyuk doubled and pinch-hitter Ko Seung-min singled and Hwang Sung-bin was hit by a pitch.
Park Seung-wook then ended the game with a straight fly ball.
It was the second time this season he has hit a walk-off double.
With 14 hits in the game, 카지노사이트킴 Lotte has now had a hit from all of its No. 2 starters this year.