The Tigers are unstoppable. Nine straight wins in 10 years.
The KIA Tigers won 7-1 against the Doosan Bears in the 2023 KBO League on Saturday at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul. Top hitters Na Sung-beom and Kim Do-young each hit two-run homers to lead the offense, while starting pitcher Thomas Pannoni shut down the Doosan bats with six innings of three-hit ball.
KIA has won nine straight games dating back to last month’s win over KT Wiz on June 24. It was the first time in about 10 years and three months that the team achieved this feat since June 8, 2013, against the Mokdong Nexen Heroes (now the Kiwoom Heroes), and again on June 20 against the Daejeon Hanwha Eagles. With 57 wins (2 ties, 50 losses) this season, KIA continued its momentum toward the top of the standings.
Kia didn’t lose the momentum battle as starting pitcher Panoni dominated the Doosan bats through the first two innings. The streaking KIA bats responded immediately. The first run came from Na Sung-beom. In the top of the third, leadoff hitter Park Chan-ho doubled off Doosan starter Kwak Bin to open the inning, and a batter later, Na hit a curveball over the right field fence.
The bats danced again in the bottom of the third inning as Panoni worked another three-run inning. In the top of the fourth inning, leadoff hitter Kim Tae-gun walked, and then No. 9 hitter Choi Won-jun followed with a “contact swing” single to right to put runners on the corners. Park Chan-ho, who had led off the inning with a single, also hit a ‘pop’ to bring in a runner from third. He was thrown out at the plate by the Doosan infield, but Kim Do-young followed with a ‘high ballistic’ home run with a launch of 38.1 degrees to score two more runs. Score 5-0.
Kia’s scoring chain was unbroken. Even Na Sung-bum, who came out of a lull, hit a single off Kwak Bin. Doosan replaced the pitcher with Lee Hyung-beom. Choi Hyung-woo followed with a double to right field to put runners on second and third, and Socrates Brito followed with a single up the middle to score the seventh run of the game. 바카라사이트
KIA then held Fanoni scoreless until the sixth inning. Despite not scoring another run, the three bullpen pitchers (Park Jun-pyo, Yoon Jung-hyun, and Kim Yoo-shin), who were activated in the seventh inning, protected the lead and secured the win.
“KIA is the team with the best firepower right now,” Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop admitted before the game. However, the team was determined to take advantage of Panoni, who has a relatively high batting average against lefties. But on this day, the Doosan bats froze, and even Kwak Bin, who had a 1.59 ERA in the previous two games, was overpowered by the KIA bats. Doosan suffered its 56th loss of the season (1 tie, 55 losses) and saw its 5 percent winning percentage collapse.
The Tigers roared back. The race for the top spot in the KBO regular season is heating up.