Competition for the 5th round fell into chaos as even the evil spirits of injury floated to KIA Tigers and SSG Landers, who were struggling with endless poor attacks.
KIA lost 2-3 in a home game against KT Wiz at Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on the 24th. On the 22nd, he managed to escape from seven consecutive losses with a one-point victory over kt Wes Benjamin, but he fell back into a losing streak with the loss.
Major pitcher Yang Hyun-jong’s one run in six innings also failed to save the team. The batting line, tied to opposing starter Ko Young-pyo, lost the opportunity with two double plays even after hitting six hits until the seventh inning. Yang Hyun-jong, who played more than six innings on average in five games in September and did his part with an ERA of 2.03, lost three games because he was not supported by the batters.
To make matters worse, KIA lost its fourth batter, Choi Hyung-woo. Choi Hyung-woo, who hit Ko Young-pyo’s fastball in the bottom of the seventh inning, sprinted while the second baseman missed the ball, and fell heavily on the foot of Park Byung-ho, who was defending at first base. He was then diagnosed with a broken left collarbone, and it took about four months to rehabilitate, effectively ending the season.
KIA, which ranks first in the league with a batting average of .300 in the second half, is facing a crisis as key hitters leave. Park Chan-ho, who swung a hard hit with a batting average of 0.382 last month, injured his finger against the Samsung Lions on the 12th, and Na Sung-bum, who has a batting average of 0.365 and 18 home runs in this season, suffered a muscle injury behind his left thigh in the game against the LG Twins on the 19th. As a result, KIA had the worst performance of 1 win, 9 losses, as its team’s batting average in the last 10 games fell to 0.266.SSG in fifth place, ahead of sixth-place KIA by one game, is also in crisis. Starting with starter Moon Seung-won at the Lotte Giants match at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 24th, Park Jong-hoon and Choi Min-joon collapsed one after another and were completely defeated 1-8. In the game on the 22nd, ace Kim Kwang-hyun took charge of seven innings with 107 pitches in the mound after four days off, but the batters lost 2-5 with only five hits.
On top of that, foreign pitcher Kirk McCarty cannot take the mound for two weeks due to damage to his right radiative muscle against Lotte on the 23rd. With the team’s batting average of 0.223 in the last 10 games remaining at a winning rate of 20%.
SSG coach Kim Won-hyung urged batters to work hard ahead of the match against Samsung on the 20th. “I hope the players will be stimulated by seeing LG Shin Min-jae or Hanwha Lee Do-yoon, who show good batting performance this season,” he said. “When there is a runner, we need a tight spot.” The technical part is also important, but we need to get our minds together,” he stressed. 스포츠중계