Kim Do-young (21) hit another home run. KIA is preparing for the Korean Series smoothly.
Kim hit a home run in a practice game against the Lotte Giants at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field on Sunday. When the team was losing 1-2, Kim hit a solo homer to left off Lotte’s Jin Seung-hyeon after two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Kim hit a two-run homer at the match against Sangmu on Saturday, the first practice game for Kia, in preparation for the Korean Series, and hit a homer in two consecutive practice games, displaying good batting performance. He led the batter’s box by making two hits (one homer) and one RBI and two runs from three times at bat.
Kia Tigers coach Lee Bum-ho said, “After a long break since we decided to go straight to the Korean Series at the end of the regular season, we have been most concerned about the batting performance of hitters. To this end, Kia prepared three training sessions for the actual game and won 16-6 against Sangmu on Tuesday, and had five hits against Lotte on the day.
The game was moved from 6 p.m. to 2 p.m. due to rain forecast, but when it rained during the game, KIA focused on checking the pitchers and attacked until the end of the seventh inning, then skipped the attack in the eighth and ninth innings and only pitched and defended against Lotte batters. KIA had five hits through the seventh inning, scoring five runs through the fourth inning with Na Sung-bum’s sacrifice fly to center field, Kim Do-young’s solo homer in the sixth inning, and Han Jun-su’s three-run homer with one out and runners on the first and second bases in the bottom of the seventh inning. “All the batters look good. We are preparing well,” KIA manager Lee Bum-ho told reporters after the game.
KIA and 꽁머니, which had four starting pitchers throw two innings each and left-hander Kwak Do-kyu throw one inning in the match with Sangmu, checked the starting one-two punch and must-win pitching on the day.
James Nail, who pitched two innings in the match against Sangmu on Sunday, also pitched 31 pitches during three innings, and pitched one hit, four strikeouts, and managed his second appearance well. He posted a maximum speed of 150 kilometers per hour on two-seam fastballs.
Yang threw three innings and allowed five hits and two runs until the sixth inning. Jang Hyun-sik (two hits and no runs in one inning), Jeon Sang-hyun (three hits and two runs in 0.2 innings) and Jeong Hae-young (two hits and no runs in one inning) pitched in succession.
After the game, Kia moved to a hotel in downtown Gwangju together and switched to a training camp. The team plans to play its last game before the Korean Series through a match between Cheong and Baek on Wednesday.
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