It’s been a long, long day. SSG Landers ace Kim Kwang-hyun (36) had another weak outing against the LG Twins.
Kim suffered his seventh loss of the season (sixth win) after allowing eight runs on nine hits (two home runs) with one walk and two strikeouts in three innings of work in the visiting LG Twins’ 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League regular-season opener at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Sunday.
SSG was unable to overcome an early deficit and fell 9-12. However, they did manage to score nine runs, including a grand slam by Guillermo Heredia, to get the best of LG’s pitching staff, including closer Yoo Young-chan.
SSG, who suffered their second straight loss, dropped to 45 points from 45 games and one draw, leaving them tied for fifth place without a win with NC Dinos (43 points from 43 games), who have won three straight. Third-place LG won three straight games to move to 49 points (2-2-42), erasing the gap between them and second-place Samsung Lions (48 points (2-41), who lost to first-place Kia Tigers on the same day.
It was a shocker from the start for SSG. In the bottom of the first inning, leadoff hitter Hong Chang-ki singled to right, Austin Dean singled to left, and Moon Bo-kyung hit a huge double over the left field fence to give SSG the lead. Luck was on their side. Park Dong-won hit a weak ground ball toward third base with runners on first and second. Kim Kwang-hyun couldn’t get to the ball at once, allowing Austin at third to score and Park to reach first base.Oh Ji-hwan’s grounder to third brought home Moon Bo-kyung, giving LG a 3-0 lead.
After striking out the side in the second inning, Kim Kwang-hyun was hit by a pitch in the third. Once again, it started with a leadoff single. Kim Hyun-soo took Kim’s first-pitch fastball to the right-center field gap, Austin singled, and Moon drew a walk to load the bases. With the bases loaded, Kim struck out Park Dong-won on a three-pitch slider, but gave up a 2B0S wild pitch to Oh Ji-hwan that cleared the wall in right-center field. Kim then threw a changeup to Kim Bum-seok for a back-to-back home run that cleared the wall in left-center field, making the score 8-0.
Kim Kwang-hyun retired the next batter, but that was it. He was pulled before the fourth inning after throwing 73 pitches. This season, Kim has been particularly weak against LG. In four starts, he is winless with three losses and 23 earned runs in 18 innings pitched. His changeup has been particularly bad against LG, as it has been faltering.
Kim Taek-hyung, who was discharged from the Armed Forces Athletic Corps (Commerce) two days ago, also had a disappointing performance in his first KBO start in two years. He gave up back-to-back walks to the first two batters he faced in the fourth inning, and then gave up an easy run on a wild pitch to Moon Bok-kyung at the plate. Moon then lined a pitch to Kim Taek-hyung, who was wobbling, for a two-run double to center field. After the home run, Kim gave up a walk to Park Dong-won and a single to Oh Ji-hwan, but he got Kim Bum-seok to pop out and Park Hae-min to fly out to left field to 사설 토토사이트 get out of the jam. In the fifth inning, they retired the side in order on eight pitches to set the stage for the next game.
Meanwhile, LG starter Dietrick Enns pitched well for the second straight game. Aside from a single run in the fourth inning, he didn’t get into any trouble, allowing just one run on six hits and three walks (two wild pitches and one hit by pitch) with five strikeouts to earn his ninth win of the season.
However, the Enns almost didn’t get the win. The bullpen faltered in the face of SSG’s relentless pursuit. It started in the top of the seventh inning, when LG led 11-0. Lim Jun-hyung, who replaced Enns, gave up a leadoff single to Park Sung-hyung and scored on Lee Ji-young’s RBI double down the left field line. After giving up a walk to Park, Choi was replaced on the mound by Choi Dong-hwan, but back-to-back singles by Ha Jae-hoon and Choi Ji-hoon kept LG in trouble. Heredia, who returned from injury, took a three-pitch fastball from Choi Dong-hwan with the bases loaded and smashed it over the left field wall to cut the SSG lead to 6-11.
The SSG bats didn’t rest. Choi Jung-jeong singled to left, and despite a pitching change to Jung Jung-heon, Han Yoo-seom drew a walk and pinch-hitter Choo Shin-soo singled against the new pitcher, Kim Jin-sung. However, SSG was unable to capitalize on the opportunity, as Park Sung-hwan’s fly ball to center field brought home Choi Jung, who was on third base.
In the ensuing crisis, LG brought in set-up man Jung Woo-young and closer Yoo Young-chan, and SSG could only manage one more run in the ninth inning to clinch the series.
For LG, Oh went 2-for-5 with a home run, five RBIs and one walk, while Austin was 3-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBIs and Moon Bo-kyung was 3-for-2 with a home run, three RBIs and two walks.
For SSG, Choi Jung, Go Myung-joon, and Park Sung-han had multi-hit games, but it wasn’t enough to turn the tide.