Kia Tigers gamers high-five one another after profitable in opposition to Samsung Lions at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, Sept. 1. Yonhap
With consecutive comeback victories over their prime rival on the weekend, the Kia Tigers have inched nearer to their first regular-season crown in Korean baseball in seven years.
The Tigers sit atop the Korea Baseball Group (KBO) standings at 75-49-2 (wins-losses-ties), following two straight highway wins over second-place Samsung Lions, who at the moment are 6 and a half video games again at 69-56-2.
On Saturday, the Tigers rallied from a number of deficits for a 15-13 victory at Samsung Lions Park within the southeastern metropolis of Daegu. The Tigers pounded out 18 hits, together with three homers.
Then the next day, the Tigers had been down 5-0 after three innings earlier than scoring six unanswered runs for a 6-5 win, on the power of 16 hits.
Third baseman Kim Do-yeong, within the midst of a historic season, launched his thirty fifth dwelling run of the season.
All season lengthy, the Tigers have defeated second-place groups each time they threatened to get shut. Again in April, it was the NC Dinos that misplaced two out of three in opposition to the Tigers after transferring inside two video games of the lead. The Dinos then dropped two straight video games in opposition to the Tigers in Could to fall from second to 3rd place.
In late Could, the Doosan Bears had been in a digital tie for first with the Tigers, earlier than dropping two out of three on the highway.
In June and July, it was the LG Twins’ flip to run into the wall that’s the Tigers after briefly sniffing the highest spot.
The Twins fell to 3rd place after getting swept at dwelling by the Tigers from Aug. 16 to 18 and have not been again as much as second place since then.
Lee Woo-sung of Kia Tigers performs in opposition to Samsung Lions at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, Sept. 1. Yonhap
After the weekend, the Tigers improved to 10-4 in opposition to the Lions for the season. That they had additionally gained two straight video games in opposition to the Lions in mid-July, whereas the Lions had been in second place.
In all, the Tigers have gained 15 out of 17 video games in opposition to second-place groups thus far this yr.
With 18 video games remaining, the Tigers’ magic quantity for the most effective regular-season report is all the way down to 12. As soon as a mix of the Tigers’ wins and the Lions’ losses attain 12, the Tigers will safe their first pennant since 2017.
The group with the highest regular-season report will earn a bye to the Korean Collection. The Tigers have gone an ideal 11-for-11 within the championship collection thus far.
The Tigers’ pitching workers has been decimated by accidents, none extra devastating than the damaged jaw suffered by No. 1 starter James Naile, who will miss the remainder of the common season after taking a comebacker to the face on Aug. 24. However the Tigers nonetheless have the bottom group ERA with 4.50.
They’ve been outscoring no matter pitching issues they’ve skilled all season. They’re the one group batting .300, and they’re tops within the KBO with 749 runs, 1,353 hits and an .831 on-base plus slugging.
Kim, the 20-year-old wunderkind, is on the cusp of simply the second 40-40 season in KBO historical past. He has 35 homers and 36 steals in what is going to seemingly find yourself as an MVP season. He’s already the youngest member of the 30-30 membership.
Kim can be two RBIs away from changing into the third participant ever with a .300 batting common, 30 homers, 30 steals, 100 runs and 100 RBIs.
Kim has scored 124 instances, with nobody else having hit the century mark but, and he can thank veteran Choi Hyoung-woo for bringing him dwelling so typically. Choi, at 40, is second general within the league with 102 RBIs, his first 100-RBI season since 2020. Choi is the all-time chief in that class with 1,644 and counting. (Yonhap)
