DOOSAN’S KANG SEUNG-HO SCORES CYCLING HIT, LG CEMENTS TOP SPOT WITH RAINY COLD

The Doosan Bears of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) have won the ‘fifth place war’ with the KIA Tigers behind the bat of Kang Seung-ho, who achieved a cycling hit (a single and a home run in the same game).Doosan came from behind to win 8-6 against visiting KIA in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on Friday .Riding a five-game winning streak, sixth-ranked Doosan eliminated the gap between itself and fifth-place Kia and sprinted to the top of the autumn baseball standings. Doosan (0.521 winning percentage) and KIA (0.522 winning percentage) are separated by just one run (0.001).It was KIA who set the tone midway through the game. Trailing 1-2 in the fourth inning, Lee Woo-seong hit a game-winning home run off Doosan starter Brandon Waddell .It was Lee’s seventh home run of the season and his first career grand slam .After Doosan tied the game at 5-5 in the top of the fifth on a Kang Seung-ho triple and a Heo Kyung-min RBI single, KIA regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth on a Kim Sun-bin RBI double. After a brief lull, the game reignited in the eighth inning. Park Jun-young, who came in as a pinch-hitter for leadoff hitter Cho Sun-sung, hit a pinch-hit home run to tie the game at 6-6.It was Park’s third home run of the season and his first career pinch-hit home run .In the ninth inning, the Kia bullpen took advantage of a self-inflicted wound with four walks and scored two runs on a wild pitch to take a step closer to victory .Kang Seung-ho, who batted sixth for Doosan on the day, went 4-for-4 with one home run, one walk, three RBI and three runs scored. After drawing a walk in his first at-bat, Kang hit his sixth home run of the season off KIA starter Yoon Young-chul with the bases loaded in the third inning. In the fifth inning, he hit a triple to right-centre field with runners on first and third to overcome the most difficult gateway to a cycling hit, and in the sixth inning, he hit a double to left field with no outs .He completed his cycling hit with an infield single in the ninth inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Kang Seung-ho took advantage of a four-pitch at-bat from KIA’s sixth pitcher, Jeon Sang-hyun. The ball deflected off Jeon’s leg and bounced back, allowing Seung-ho to celebrate with a big smile as he stepped on first base. The cycling hit is the 30th in baseball history, the sixth for Doosan, and the first this season .The last cycling hit was achieved by Lee Jung-hoo (Kiwoom Heroes) on 25 October 2021 against the Daejeon Hanwha Eagles. In Daejeon, the LG Twins, who used Lee as a set-up man and closer, beat Hanwha 4-3 in a rain-soaked cold game in the seventh inning to end a three-game losing streak .The gap between them and second-place KT WIZ, who did not play on the day, widened back to 5.5 games. LG took the lead in the top of the second inning on a single by Oh Ji-hwan and a double by Moon Bo-kyung. Hanwha answered back in the bottom of the second with a Nick Williams RBI double to tie the game, then scored two runs two batters later on back-to-back doubles by Moon Hyun-bin and Kim Tae-yeon. LG regained 스포츠토토 the lead in the third inning.