SSG Landers’ native ace Kim Gwang-hyun (34) struggled against the “#1” LG Twins in the first game of the second half, but kept the lead.
Kim Gwang-hyun started in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League away game against LG held at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on the 21st and recorded 6 innings, 7 hits, 2 walks, 2 strikeouts and 4 runs. The total number of pitches was 97.
Kim Gwang-hyun had difficulties against LG after returning from a major league (MLB) challenge in March of last year. Until this day, he pitched in a total of four games and had an earned run average of 5.25. He had clean pitches and distance, hitting home runs every time.
Even in this game, he could not pitch a pitch that clearly overwhelms the LG hitters. He failed to block leadoff Hong Chang-ki, and even allowed one shot to the center batting line made up of Kim Hyun-soo, Austin Dean, and Park Dong-won. Still, the 4-game home run streak against LG stopped, and he passed the baton to the bullpen while maintaining the lead.
Kim Gwang-hyun was anxious from the start of the day. Kim Gwang-hyeon sent the first batter Hong Chang-ki out for an infield hit, and then guided Park Hae-min to a ground ball, but first baseman Kang Jin-seong’s throw to second base missed and did not result in a double play. Afterwards, he treated Kim Hyun-soo as an infield ground ball, but Austin hit a timely hit with 1 RBI in the left field from the 2nd out and 3rd base that continued.
It was an embarrassing run, but he immediately allowed Park Dong-won a huge double, putting him in a crisis with 2nd, 2nd and 3rd bases. Fortunately, Oh Ji-hwan was caught with a fly in left field and an extra run was prevented, but the ball flew close to the outfield wall.
Kim Gwang-hyun started to find a sense of stability and treated both the bottom of the 2nd and 3rd innings as a tripartite offense. It was impressive how quickly he increased his out count with catches.
Kim Gwang-hyun, who had nine consecutive outs, allowed the team to tie the game with two outs at the end of the fourth inning when the team turned 2-1. After walking Oh Ji-hwan, he failed to stop the stealing of second base, and Lee Jae-won hit a timely hit to tie the game.
In the top of the 5th inning, the SSG batting line scored 3 runs with Choi Jung’s 1 RBI double and Choi Joo-hwan’s 2-run homer, lightening the shoulders of Kim Gwang-hyun, who was struggling. Nonetheless, Kim Gwang-hyun was badly beaten by the LG batting line, which ranked first in the team’s batting average.토토사이트
Kim Gwang-hyeon also conceded after the second out. At the end of the 5th inning, he hit Kim Hyun-soo with 2nd out and 1st base with a long hit that hit the right-middle wall directly, and allowed Austin a timely hit to the left. In an instant, the score was 5-4, chased by 1 point.
Fortunately for SSG, however, Kim Gwang-hyun did not fail to keep the lead again. Kim Gwang-hyun then struck out Park Dong-won on a swing with 2nd out and 1st base and ended the 5th inning with difficulty.
Kim Kwang-Hyun went to the mound in the 6th inning as well. He gave Oh Ji-hwan a walk, the first batter, but treated the next three batters as regular hits and fulfilled his role by pitching 6 innings. Kim Gwang-hyun’s season average ERA rose from 3.67 to 3.84.
In the top of the 7th inning, SSG opened up to 6-4 with Choi Jeong-ui’s 1 RBI double, and at the start of the 7th inning, the 2nd pitcher Koh Hyo-jun was put in.