Kiwoom Heroes showed loopholes in their defense concentration and lost two consecutive losses in the home room. The uptrend, which swept all three consecutive games against the Lotte Giants last weekend, was broken.
Kiwoom lost 4-11 in the 13th game of the season against the Doosan Bears in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League held at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 23rd. After kneeling 1-6 the previous day, I experienced the bitter taste of defeat for two days in a row.
Kiwoom overturned the game in the bottom of the 5th inning, which was trailing 1-2, with a chance to load bases with one out. When Song Seong-moon grounded in the infield, Doosan second baseman Kang Seung-ho took advantage of an error in throwing to second base, and the runners on second and third base scored and succeeded in turning the score around 3-2.
However, Kiwoom’s lead did not last long. He self-destructed in defense in the top of the 6th inning that immediately followed. After one run, Doosan Kim Jae-hwan walked on base, and when Kang Seung-ho, the follow-up hitter, hit, right fielder Lim Byeong-wook quickly connected with a throw to third base to catch Kim Jae-hwan, who was trying to advance to third base.
The problem was the accuracy of Lim Byung-wook’s throw. Lim Byeong-wook was in too much of a hurry and threw the ball in a direction that third baseman Song Seong-moon could not catch. Song Seong-moon attempted a jump catch, but the ball went straight into the Doosan dugout on the third base side.
The umpires immediately gave third base runner Kim Jae-hwan the right to advance safely, leading to Doosan scoring. Hitter runner Kang Seung-ho, who advanced to second base by taking advantage of Byeong-wook Lim’s third base after a hit, also advanced to third base, putting Kiwoom in an increasingly difficult situation. Kiwoom gave Heo Gyeong-min a timely 1 RBI hit in the crisis of losing 1 company and 3 bases, and the game turned over to 3-4 again.
Kiwoom could hardly find stability. In the defense at the beginning of the 8th inning, which was behind 4-5, he literally ‘destroyed himself’. Leading batters Kang Seung-ho and Heo Gyeong-min’s consecutive doubles widened the score to 4-6, and Yang Eui-ji walked to base, continuing the crisis with first and second base safely.
In Kiwoom, pitcher Kim Jae-woong induced Doosan Jo Su-haeng to throw a grounder. After Kim Jae-woong lightly caught the batted ball, he quickly connected it with a throw to second base, and it seemed possible to play a double play that leads to pitcher-second baseman-first baseman.
However, Kim Jae-woong’s throw from second base was hit by Kim Hye-sung’s glove and flowed out to the outfield, so second base runner Heo Gyeong-min scored through third base. The score was 4-7, and the flow of the game completely went over to Doosan.
Kiwoom later stepped on the home plate until third base runner Yang Eui-ji, as pitcher Ha Young-min, who had changed from 1st and 3rd base, made an error to check 1st base when Su-bin Jeong was at bat. The gap widened to 4-8, and in fact, the will to pursue was lost here.스포츠토토
Kiwoom also dedicated the victory against Doosan on the 22nd with a defensive mistake and a base runner miss. For this reason, coach Hong Won-gi of Kiwoom emphasized defense concentration several times before the game on the 23rd.
Coach Hong Won-ki said, “The first priority is that there should be no complacent play in defense. Offense is also an attack, but it seems to be an iron rule in baseball that the more important the game, the more important the defense is.” We need to focus more,” he said.
However, the Kiwoom players did not live up to the expectations of the command tower. He saved the opponent’s morale with his complacent defense several times in the game. If they do not recover solidity in the defense, it is difficult to avoid the tragedy of finishing the regular league last in 12 years since 2011.