The shaky defense is something that the league leaders KIA Tigers need to fix.

On the 28th, KIA won 4-3 in the last game of the weekend 3-game series against Kiwoom Heroes in the ‘2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League’ held at Gocheok Sky Dome. It was a dramatic victory. In the top of the 9th inning, when they were down 2-3, Kim Seon-bin and Byun Woo-hyeok hit consecutive home runs after 2 outs to turn the game around to 4-3. The team that decorated the dramatic victory not only escaped a 3-game losing streak, but also escaped the crisis of a series-swept defeat.

With this game, KIA played 100 games of the season. They are firmly maintaining their 1st place with a season record of 60 wins, 2 draws, and 38 losses. They are maintaining a certain gap with the league’s 2nd place LG Twins (53 wins, 2 draws, 43 losses), with a game difference of ‘5’. However, their recent performance has not been good. In particular, they were not able to achieve satisfactory results against the bottom-ranked Kiwoom. They lost on the first day of the three-game weekend series against Kiwoom (26th/4-5 loss) and the following day (27th/5-6 loss), confirming their losing streak early.

The first and second day’s games were decided by one point, so it was even more regrettable. Furthermore, they lost the game after being ahead. They were leading 3-0 on the first day and 2-1 on the second day. There are many factors in a loss. The pitchers may have been shaken and given up runs. However, KIA’s loss was largely due to the fielders’ errors rather than the pitchers’ poor performance. In the last two games, they were caught up in errors and self-destructed.

Starting with the game on the 27th, the infield made one or two defensive mistakes. Coincidentally, both of them came from infield commander Park Chan-ho. The first mistake was in the bottom of the 8th. Lee Joo-hyung hit a right-field hit with no outs and a runner on first. The runner on first base was aiming for third base, and the batter-runner tried to get to second base. Park Chan-ho tried to tag Lee Joo-hyung, a runner who slipped between first and second base after catching the ball for a relay play, but he changed direction and fell himself, saving all the runners. The situation that could have been 1 out and 3rd base became 2nd and 3rd base without any outs, and KIA allowed a big inning by giving up 4 runs using this as an excuse.

Then, the second defensive attempt came in the bottom of the 9th. It was even more fatal. Park Chan-ho missed Lee Yong-kyu’s hit with 2 outs. The record was an infield hit to the shortstop. KIA, who gave up a runner with 2 outs, faced a crisis by accumulating runners, and eventually gave up a walk-off hit to Song Sung-moon and surrendered.

KIA also lost the game on defense the day after (28th). Starting from the beginning of the game, errors were made, foreshadowing a thorny path. In the bottom of the first, Kim Do-young failed to catch the ground ball to third base by leadoff hitter Lee Ju-hyung, allowing a runner. The crisis came immediately. He got the next batter Dawson to fly out to center field, but allowed a 1-RBI double to Song Seong-moon, who had the last game’s walk-off hit, making it 0-1. With one out and a runner on second, he caught Kim Hye-seong with a fly ball to left field, but allowed a 1-RBI single to veteran Choi Joo-hwan, making it 0-2. The error led to a run, giving up the momentum early on.

In the bottom of the fourth, an error led to a run. Yang Hyeon-jong allowed a 2-base hit to Choi Joo-hwan that hit the right field wall with one out. Although he allowed a runner in scoring position, Yang Hyeon-jong seemed to be able to overcome the crisis well. He returned Ko Young-woo to a grounder to the shortstop, putting runners on third and second base, and seemed to be ending the inning by inducing an infield grounder from Kim Jae-hyun. However, Park Chan-ho made a critical error. He failed to make contact with Kim Jae-hyun’s grounder and committed a throwing error, and in the meantime, he allowed a run to Choi Ju-hwan, who was on third base, and the gap widened to 0-3.

Fortunately, KIA did not allow any more runs. They won with two home runs by Choi Won-jun in the top of the 8th and a home run show by Kim Sun-bin and Byun Woo-hyuk in the top of the 9th. A dramatic victory is good, but we need to look back on our shaky defense.

For more Info, here: 메이저사이트