KIA's bullpen, which is "devastating last place," can't even keep a 7-point gap and lose...The first round? The 5th round is hard
KIA's bullpen, which is "devastating last place," can't even keep a 7-point gap and lose...The first round? The 5th round is hard
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KIA Tigers suffered a shocking upset loss by exposing their biggest weakness this season.
Kia lost to the Kiwoom Heroes 10-11 at Gocheok Sky Dome on Sunday. Leading 5-3 at the top of the eighth inning, the team scored five runs including a timely two-base hit by Kim Do-young. The happy ending of three consecutive wins and a series sweep was shattered in the bottom of the eighth inning. Kia's bullpen failed to keep the seven-point gap and lost eight runs, while the team bowed its head in shock. It suffered internal injuries of more than one loss.바카라사이트
Starting pitcher Hwang Dong-ha pitched well with one run in five innings and threw only 70 pitches, but he decided to quickly put in the bullpen from the sixth inning. Hwang Dong-ha switched to a bullpen during the season and made his third start on the day, and the previous two games left the mound early without completing five innings. The number of pitches was enough to lead one more inning, but the bench seems to have judged that Hwang Dong-ha has already exceeded expectations. It is quite common to see the manager change the alternative starter in a good atmosphere when he plays well for the first time in a long time.
The problem was the KIA bullpen. One of the reasons why Kia, which was considered the strongest team in this season, is moving around in the middle and lower ranks is its bullpen. It is also true that key players including Kim Do-young, Park Chan-ho, Kim Sun-bin and Na Sung-bum left the club due to injury since the opening of the season, which weakened their firepower and lacked the strength to keep the victory due to loose bullpen sessions. Kia's bullpen remained in seventh place with an ERA of 5.62 until Thursday's game. With the exception of closing pitcher Jung Hae-young and setup man Jo Sang-woo, the team lacked reliable cards. Kwak Do-gyu, a left-hander who joined the surgery table due to ligament damage in his elbow, ended the season as a huge loss.
He managed to hold on until the seventh inning. Lee Joon-young (⅓ innings) and Jeon Sang-hyun (one ⅔ inning) pitched and allowed one run each, but there was no danger that the game could turn around. Jeon also threw 30 pitches to erase the regret that Hwang Dong-ha left the mound a little earlier.
The problem was the eighth inning. KIA seemed to secure 10-3 victory with its batters scoring five points in the top of the eighth inning. KIA manager Lee Bum-ho showed strong commitment to win by putting Choi Ji-min on the mound in the bottom of the eighth inning despite the gap of seven points. However, as Choi issued consecutive walks to Song Seong-moon and Choi Joo-hwan, his plan started to get twisted.
Manager Lee replaced the pitcher with right-hander Kim Geon-guk at the crisis of first and second bases with no outs. Since it was a 7-point gap, he would have tried to save Jo Sang-woo, who took the mound on the 6th, and there was a high possibility that he was not ready to raise Jo Sang-woo immediately in an unexpected crisis.
Kim Geon-guk gave up a left-handed hit to Yasiel Puig, the first batter, leading to a full base crisis with no outs. When the next batter, Ruben Cardinez, got on base with a ground ball in front of the third baseman, he forced third baseman Song Sung-moon out of the home to pass the ball.
However, Kim couldn't hold it anymore. With the bases loaded with one out continuously, Kim was trailing 10-4 by giving up a timely hit to Lim Byung-wook, and Kim Tae-jin was allowed to throw the bases loaded over the right-center field, narrowing the gap to 10-8 in an instant. KIA was still leading by two points, but the mood completely shifted to Kiwoom.
Kia added Cho Sang-woo belatedly, but ended up with a worse outcome. Cho walked Kim Dong-heon, its first batter. Oh Sun-jin was struck out and became a first base with two outs, and after sending Kim Dong-heon to second base with a wild pitch, Lee Yong-kyu was walked, leading to a crisis with two outs and runners on first and second bases.
Manager Lee made a strong move to put closer Jung Hae-young in here. He showed a strong will to prevent this crisis without fail.
However, he allowed Song to walk, putting his team on the verge of loading the bases with two outs. Choi Joo-hwan hit a timely two-base hit to right field to turn the game over 10-11. Kia also suffered tremendous internal injuries as it lost all of its credit cards including Cho Sang-woo and Jung Hae-young, which it could have saved, as it failed to keep the seven-point lead.
The ERA of the KIA bullpen soared to 6.23 after the game on Wednesday, falling from seventh to the bottom in a day. Jung Hae-young (2.25) is the only bullpen pitcher with a two-point ERA, while Yoon Joong-hyun (3.00) and Cho Sang-woo (3.38) are the only pitchers with a three-point ERA. This shows how serious the situation in the KIA bullpen is.
The team's come-from-behind loss record also demonstrates how weak Kia's bullpen is. KIA had come-from-behind loss in 11 games this season, ranking second the most in the league. No. 1 is Kiwoom, which had come-from-behind loss in 12 games.
Kia, which was considered the strongest team in absolute terms, is tied for sixth with SSG Landers with 16 wins and 19 losses and a 0.457 win rate as of Tuesday. Although it has not separated from the mid-range competition due to a 1.5-game gap with the fifth-ranked KT Wiz and two-game gap with the fourth-ranked Samsung Lions, its bid for the first place for the second consecutive year has turned into a red light. If the team continues to play a role in the bullpen session, Kia may find it difficult to guarantee its bid for the fifth place.