Kia Tigers continue to soar in standings
The Kia Tigers have continued to lead in the standings of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League after taking five wins in six games last week.
After sweeping a three-game series with the Hanwha Eagles during the weekdays, the Tigers took on the Lotte Giants at their home Gwangju Kia Champions Field. Though the Gwangju-based team lost the first game, they won the other two games to hold a three-game lead in the standings, with 33 wins and 17 losses.
The highlight of the three-game series with the Giants was seen at Sunday’s game.
Tied 4-4 going into extra innings, the Tigers’ sophomore infielder Choi Won-joon got into the batter’s box in the bottom of the 11th with bases loaded and one out.
That was the 20-year-old’s fourth bases-loaded chance on Sunday. Batting eighth as a third baseman, he missed the previous three at-bats with a ground out, a fly out and a strike out swinging in the fourth, seventh and ninth innings.
Though his face was pale in his fourth bases-loaded chance in one game, he blasted the first pitch he saw from Giants reliever Yoon Gil-hyun over the right field fence to end the game 8-4.
The Giants’ slugger Lee Dae-ho became the league’s 17th player to hit more than 10 home runs in a single season for nine consecutive seasons, but his team remained in fifth place with 24 wins and 24 losses.
After their 74-year-old manger Kim Sung-keun resigned on Tuesday, the Eagles swept the Tigers in their three-game series at their home Daejeon field under interim manager Lee Sang-kun.
The Eagles suffered eight consecutive losses after losing to the NC Dinos in their first game of the three-game series in Changwon on Friday, but rebounded from their losing streak as they won the Saturday and Sunday games. The team is ranked ninth with 20 wins and 29 losses.
The LG Twins have fallen into a slump with five consecutive losses.
The Seoul-based team lost all five games last week after losing to the reigning champion Doosan Bears during the weekdays and the SK Wyverns over the weekend. The team, which on May 14 had ranked second in the standings, has fallen to fourth with 25 wins and 23 losses.
The biggest problem during their losing streak mostly came from the team’s poor batting performance.
The Twins batters, who had the most double plays in the league with 54, only scored 34 during the past 11 games. Worse, they only scored six in a three-game series with the Wyverns.
The Bears shortened their gap with the second-place Dinos in the standings to two games as they won four times in five games last week.