On August 12, 2022, after a face-to-face confrontation at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, the two starting pitchers will face off again at KIA Champions Field in Gwangju after 253 days. KIA Yang Hyeon-jong and Samsung Won Tae-in.
The current atmosphere of the two teams is completely different. KIA, which won the game the previous day with Choi Hyung-woo’s 3-run home run, succeeded in escaping from the bottom, while Samsung was in a situation where they lost 2 consecutive losses the previous day.
As both teams have native ace cards, the losing side is expected to suffer significant damage.
Yang Hyeon-jong is recording an average ERA of 1.93 without a win or loss in two games this season. In the match against Gocheok Kiwoom on the 16th, which was his most recent appearance, he pitched 7 scoreless innings, but withdrew without a win or loss as he was not supported by the other line. In his 3rd appearance, he went on the hunt for his first win of the season.
It is the first appearance of the season against Samsung. Last season against Samsung, it was not very good with an average ERA of 4.50 with 2 wins and 1 loss in 4 games.
The ultimate natural enemy Lee Won-seok is the number one target to be alerted. Lee Won-seok had 5 hits in 8 at-bats (2 home runs), 6 RBIs, 2 runs, and a batting average of 0.625 OPS 2.056 against Hyeon-Jong Yang last season. Even in the game the previous day, he went 2 at bats, 1 hit and 2 walks, even showing off 3 on-base games.
Koo Ja-wook has a very good sense of hitting within Samsung. He is batting hard with a batting average of 0.382, and in the game the previous day, he went 2-for-3 with 1 run and 1 walk, showing 3 on-base games. Last season, against Yang Hyeon-jong, he was silent with 1 hit in 5 at-bats, but his overall performance was strong with 20 hits in 50 at-bats (3 homers), 12 RBIs, 10 runs and a batting average of 0.400.
Won Tae-in is recording an average ERA of 4.32 with 1 win and no loss in 3 games this season. In his latest appearance, against Daegu Lotte on the 16th, he fought hard with 6.2 innings and 1 run (1 earned run) and won his first win of the season. Along with the team’s escape from losing streak, he sets out to challenge for his second win of the season.
It is his first appearance this season against KIA.먹튀검증 Last season against KIA, he had a relatively hard time with an average ERA of 4.66 with 2 wins and 2 losses in 5 games.
Choi Hyung-woo, who hit the walk-off home run in the game the previous day, is no different from Won Tae-in’s natural enemy. Last season, against Won Tae-in, he recorded 6 hits in 13 at-bats (1 home run), 4 RBIs, 2 runs, a batting average of 0.462 OPS and 1.380. It is the number 1 target for the boundary.
KIA captain Kim Seon-bin was also strong against Won Tae-in last season with 6 hits in 16 at-bats and 2 RBIs with a batting average of 0.375 and an OPS of 0.875. Shortstop Park Chan-ho, the starting pitcher, was also good against Won Tae-in last season with 3 hits, 2 runs and 1 walk in 10 at-bats with a batting average of 0.300 and an OPS of 0.664.
Will KIA maintain its uptrend or Samsung will escape its losing streak? At this moment, the role of native aces as starters is more important than ever.