The Doosan Bears pulled starter Kim Dong-ju early after he struggled with his pitches.
Doosan is playing the 10th game of the season against KT Wiz at Jamsil Stadium on the 4th.
In particular, the game was billed as the ‘third place decider’. KT has emerged as the eye of the storm in the midseason KBO League standings battle with a 9-1 record in their last 10 games.
Prior to the game, the two teams were separated by a one-run margin in third and fourth place. Doosan was in third place with 46 wins, 42 losses, and one draw (5-2-3), while KT was in fourth place with 47 wins, 43 losses, and two draws (5-2-2). Their head-to-head record is also the same, with 4 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw.메이저놀이터
Doosan started Kim Dong-ju and KT started Choi Byung-seong. Both pitchers struggled early on, but KT stuck with Choi and kept him in until the fifth inning, while Kim was quickly pulled.
Kim struggled in the first inning. After giving up back-to-back singles to KT’s Kim Sang-soo Alford, he got Park Byung-ho to ground out to shortstop and then gave up back-to-back singles to Hwang Jae-gyun and Lee Ho-yeon. The lead was gone without a hit. In the dugout, Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop could not hide his frustration.
Kim Dong-joo struck out Moon Sang-chul to end the first inning. In the second inning, Kim Jun-tae’s back-to-back singles put runners on first and third, but Kim struck out Kim Sang-soo Alford to end the inning. In the third inning, he gave up an infield single to Hwang Jae-gyun, but struck out Lee Ho-yeon.
However, in the top of the fourth, he gave up a walk to leadoff hitter Moon Sang-chul after throwing back-to-back sliders on 0-2 pitches. Choi Seung-yong was already warming up in the Doosan bullpen. Manager Lee Seung-yup eventually decided to replace him with Kim Dong-joo.
Kim’s fastball reached 147 mph, but he struggled with his overall command and was pulled early. He threw 65 pitches in three innings, giving up three hits, five walks, and two runs. It was Kim’s first start before the fifth inning in five games since May 24 against Doosan in Jamsil (five scoreless innings).