Kim Do-young (21), an infielder for the Kia Tigers of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO), hit two doubles against his best friend, pitcher Moon Dong-joo (Hanwha). It was the first time in a year that the two batted against each other. Moon threw a fastball that reached a maximum speed of 160.6 kilometers per hour according to Trackman, but the two doubles he gave up to Kim Do-young were both unsuccessful.
Kim started at third base in the lineup against the Hanwha Eagles in the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Hanwha Eagles Park in Daejeon, South Korea, and went 3-for-5 with two doubles, a walk, and two RBIs to lead KIA to a 7-3 victory and a four-game winning streak.
Kim Do-young and Moon Dong-joo are lifelong rivals who were selected in the first round of the 2022 KBO Draft. In six meetings between the two last year, Kim went 1-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs in Gwangju on Aug. 6 (2-for-6) and Aug. 27 (2-for-1 with a walk). His batting average was 2-for-5, but Kim’s two walks didn’t hurt his slugging percentage, which was 5-for-5.
Nearly a year has passed since then.
Moon Dong-ju, last year’s Rookie of the Year, has been struggling this year, having been sent to the second team twice, and made his first start of the season against KIA. Kim Do-young, whose MVP-caliber performance unleashed his potential, had two hits off Moon in an unexpectedly different at-bat. Both were doubles.
Facing Moon with the bases loaded in the first inning, 온라인카지노사이트 Kim worked a full count and took a seven-pitch curveball low and away. The line drive went straight up the middle for a double off the left-field fence. Two batters later, Na Sung-beom doubled to left center to score another run for KIA.
In the bottom of the third inning,
Moon took advantage of a wild pitch. Moon drove a fastball right down the middle of the plate for a two-run double to the right side of the infield. After hitting a changeup in his first at-bat, he hit a fastball in his second at-bat to produce back-to-back long balls. With runners on second and third, Kia took advantage of a two-run double to left field by Choi Hyung-woo to make it 4-1.
In the top of the fifth inning, Moon hit a three-pitch high slider up the middle, but it was grounded out to center field. Moon overcame the early struggles to go five innings, allowing four runs on eight hits (one homer) with five strikeouts and no walks, but he couldn’t get any offensive support and suffered his seventh loss of the season. He has a 6.32 ERA, with a fastball that tops out at 160.6 mph (161.6 km/h) and averages 156 mph (43), along with a curveball (28), slider (18), two-seam and changeup (one offspeed). He pitched aggressively with a 68.1 percent strikeout rate (62/91) and no walks, but only five hits were hit by fastballs, including three longballs.
Kim’s bat didn’t stop working after Moon went down.
With two outs in the seventh inning, he drove a four-seam fastball from Hanwha rookie left-hander Hwang Jun-seo over the wall in right-center for a two-run single to make it 5-1. He continued his hot hitting with a 3-for-5 performance with one home run, one RBI and two runs scored. In his last 10 games, Kim hasn’t hit a home run, but he’s still batting well, going 7-for-14 (37 RBI) with eight runs scored and a 1.041 OPS.
Through 90 games, Kim’s overall stats for the season are 23-for-52 (354 at-bats, 122 hits), 23 home runs, 68 RBI, 91 runs, 43 walks, 68 strikeouts, 29 stolen bases, .416 slugging percentage, .613 on-base percentage, and 1.029 OPS. He ranks first in on-base percentage, OPS, and runs scored, tied for second in hits, tied for third in home runs, tied for fifth in slugging percentage, tied for sixth in on-base percentage, tied for seventh in walks, and tied for 12th in RBI, putting him on MVP-caliber pace.
After the game,
Kim spoke about his first matchup of the season against Moon Dong-ju, saying, “I didn’t put much importance on it and played with the same mindset. I think the fact that I thought I would be aggressive from the first at-bat because I liked Dong-ju’s pitches in the previous game led to a good result,” said Kim. ”I tried to hit before the ball count got unfavorable because I hadn’t been hitting well lately, and I’m doubly happy that my focus on every at-bat helped the team win with a three-hit game.”
Kim, who has played in all but two of the team’s 92 games this year, said, “Physically, it’s not a big issue. The coach and training staff have been doing a good job, so I’ve been able to play without any problems. I want to say thank you.” ”I’m very grateful that so many fans supported us today even though it was an away game. We will do our best in every game and hope to repay them with good results this season.”he said.