7/8 Roundup and News

KIA 4, Hanhwa 1
W - Yoon Seok-min (9-4), L - Choi Yeong-pil(4-7)

Hanhwa scored 1 in the 1st inning, but that was all they could get off of KIA starter, Yoon Seok-min. Yoon tossed a complete game(135 pitches!, 88 strikes) allowing only the 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks with 9 K's. KIA got on the board in the 2nd inning with RBI singles from Lee Yong-gyu and Na Ji-won. KIA added two more insurance runs in the 7th with a pair of RBI singles from Kim Won-seop and Chae Jong-beom. It was a solid all around effort from a surging Tigers team. KIA has won 5 straight and has a firm grip on 6th place at 38-43. They're 1/2 game out of 5th and 5 games out of 4th.

Woori 4, Lotte 2
W - Hwang Doo-seong (6-3), L - Lee Yong-hoon (2-6), S - Shingo Takatsu (3)

The statline on Shingo so far, 3 saves, 3 attempts, 3 goofy smiles, 3 days that have been made a little brighter for me by his prescence.

Hwang Doo-seong pitched very well last night. Hwang threw 6 innings(98 pitches, 61 strikes) allowing 2 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks with 5 K's. Both Lotte runs came on sacrifices from 2nd baseman, Jo Seong-hwan. I'm starting to think Jerry Royster rode his big bats a little too hard in the first half of the season. I can't remember the last time Lee Dae-ho or Kang Min-ho had a multi-hit game. Woori was nursing a 2-1 lead heading into the bottom of the 4th when Kim Il-kyeong delivered a 2 RBI single to open the lead up to 4-1. It took Shingo only 13 pitches(11 strikes) to record the last 4 outs for the save.

Samsung 9, SK 3
W - Yoon Seong-hwan (6-8), L - Song Eun-beom (6-5)

The baby Lions jumped all over SK starter, Song Eun-beom, in the first two innings and rode their lead to victory of the best team in the KBO. I had zero confidence heading into this one and I still feel the same way. Let's see these sad sacks do it against Kim Kwang-hyeon or Chae Byeong-ryong. Samsung catcher, Jin Kab-yong, delivered a 2 RBI single in the first inning to get the party started right. Samsung followed with a 4-run rally in the 2nd inning. The rally was helped along with a pair of costly errors from SK's Jeong Geun-woo. After the 2nd error he was replaced. Ouch. The game ball goes to the ageless one, Samsung DH Yang Joon-hyeok. Yang added 2 more hits to his total, putting the KBO record at 2,153. Yang also drove in a run. Samsung starter, Yoon Seung-hwan also deserves a mention. Yoon threw 5 2/3 innings(97 pitches, 64 strikes) allowing 1 run on 5 hits and 1 walk. Yoon also struck out 6 Wyverns.

Doosan 3, LG 2 (11)
W - Lee Jae-woo(8-1), L - Jeong Jae-bok (4-7)

LG ace, Bong Jung-geun had the good stuff working last night, but LG's mediocre offense didn't help him out much. Bong took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the 9th inning, but he couldn't hang on against a patient Doosan offense. Kim Hyeon-su and Lee Jong-wook both struck with RBI singles in the bottom of the 9th to send the game into extras and give Bong a ND for his trouble. Dr. Bong's final line was 9 innings(119 pitches, 78 strikes) allowing 2 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks with 8 K's. In the bottom of the 11th inning, Doosan's Ko Yeong-min drilled a base hit into left to put the go ahead run on 1st with 1 out. Then, Ko stole second when LG catcher, Kim Jeong-min, couldn't find the handle after recieving the pitch. Kim Hyeon-su drew a walk to put runners on 1st and 2nd with one out. Then Kim Dong-ju stepped to the plate and drilled a pitch into the gap to score the winning run and receive "The Beatdown of Victory" from his teammate. Seriously, I think someone is going to be seriously hurt during one of these "celebrations." You can call me culturally ignorant if you want, but I don't think its a good idea to kick my teammates when they're lying in a prone position.