SSG Landers ace Kim Kwang-hyun (35) pitched well as usual. However, he was not able to dominate against Ahn Woo-jin.
Kim Kwang-hyun gave up two runs on six hits over seven innings in his first start of the 2023 KBO League home game against the Kiwoom Heroes at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on May 31. He left the mound with the lead (1-2) after the team’s bats scored just one run off opposing pitcher Ahn Woo-jin.
Kim Kwang-hyun had previously faced Ahn Woo-jin in a start against Gochuk on August 3 last year, giving up two runs in six innings of work before losing the decision to Ahn, who pitched seven scoreless innings to lead the team to a 1-0 victory. He had to settle for a quality start (six innings or more and no more than three earned runs) for the first time in three games since his last start against the Samsung Lions on April 13 (seven scoreless innings).
Kim Kwang-hyun got off to a clean start in the second inning, retiring the top three batters in the order of Joo Jung-won, Kim Hye-sung, Ronnie Dawson, and Kiwoom. In the top of the second, he gave up a leadoff single to Kim Hwijip and a subsequent single to Lee Joo-hyung. After getting Lee Joo-hyung to fly out, he induced a grounder to Song Sung-moon to get the runner at second base, and then induced an infield grounder to Kim Soo-hwan to keep the inning scoreless.토토사이트
Kim Kwang-hyun gave up a leadoff single to Kim Hye-sung two batters later in the inning, but struck out the next batter, Dawson. The fourth inning was the second triple play. In the fifth, he struck out both Song Sung-moon and Kim Soo-hwan and gave up a walk to Kim Xiang, but got Joo Sung-won to fly out to end the inning.
Kim was matched up against the opposing ace, Ahn Woo-jin. The SSG offense scored a run in the bottom of the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by Jeon Eui-san.
Kim hasn’t been in great form lately. He has given up five or more runs in his last two games. Overall, his pitches were off.
This game faltered a bit in the sixth inning. In the top of the sixth, with the bases loaded, Kim Kwang-hyun gave up a single to Dawson and a double to Kim Hwijip to put runners on second and third. He then gave up a sacrifice fly to left to Lee Ju-hyung to tie the game at 1-1.
Trouble was, the changeup he threw to the next batter, Lee Hyung-jong, for a strike, was caught, leading to a single up the middle. Kim Hwijip, who was on third base, came home with time to spare. Kim Kwang-hyun allowed the tying run to score.
Kwang-hyun’s command of his pitches was excellent, especially his curveball that he threw to Dawson in the bottom of the third inning to get him to swing and miss. In the fifth inning, Kim struck out Song Sung-moon and Kim Soo-hwan with his curveball.
Despite his ace-like pitching, he couldn’t get over the hump in the sixth inning. His slider and changeup were driven up the middle in the first inning against Lee and Lee Hyung-jong.
Kim Kwang-hyun took the mound in the seventh inning and pitched a scoreless inning, but he was unable to get the win as the bats failed to score from reliever Kim Jae-woong in the bottom of the seventh, and he handed the mound over to Ko Hyo-joon in the top of the eighth.
Facing defeat, SSG hit a game-tying home run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Kim Kwang-hyun was no longer needed to win the game.