As predicted, scores in the KBO rose along with the heat and humidity in South Korea. It made for fluid lineups providing some players with rest and scenes like this helped keep players cool: 

 

Samsung and the KT Wiz split a doubleheader with the Lions sporting an interesting jersey in Game 1:

 

On the precipice of an dubious record, Hanwha gets a reprieve with their game suspended against Doosan down 4-3:

 

This resumption will not affect DFS play on the Sunday slate, but if the bullpens get taxed it may affect the scores in both. With this in mind, it’s time to focus on the top performances across Saturday’s six contests. 

Starting Pitcher Spotlight

Ki-young Im of Kia evened his record notching his third win firing six shutout innings allowing three hits and one walks with six strikeouts. Im lowered his ERA to 2.82 and WHIP to 1.12 as a result of this outing through 38.1 innings this season. Closer Kyung-chan Moon recorded his sixth save and allowed one unearned run in 12 outings since May 12th. 

Despite absorbing his third loss, Seung-won Moon worked 7.1 innings giving up three hits, two earned runs and two walks with eight strikeouts. Moon’s registered 23 strikeouts his last three starts with a 2.33 ERA and 0.83 WHIP over 19.1 innings. 

In Game 1, David Buchanan logged 6.2 innings yielding five hits, two earned runs and struck out three. This marks Buchanan’s fifth win of the season. Over his last four starts, Buchanan’s only allowed three earned runs (1.01 ERA) through 26.2 innings with a 16:5 K:BB and 0.97 WHIP in them. 

Hitter Highlights

Kiwoom Heroes

  • Keon-chang Seo (DH) - Went 2-for-5 with a run, double and an RBI. 

  • Byung-ho Park (1B) - Kiwoom moved him to second in the order to get him more fastballs and Park launched his seventh home run driving in three runs on Saturday. It’s his first home run since June second. Park finished 1-for-2 with three runs and two walks. 

  • Jung-hoo Lee (OF) - Matched his career high hitting his sixth home run during a 2-for-4 day with two runs, a double and two RBI. Lee noted working with analytics to improve his swing speed and power entering the season and the results can be seen in his .672 slugging percentage in 2020 compared to his career .460 rate. 

  • Ha-seong Kim (3B) - Moved his hit streak to 13 games going 1-for-4 blasting home run number seven this year driving in two runs. 

  • Hye-sung Kim (SS) - Stayed hot on a 3-for-5 day with three runs, a triple, his third home run and four RBI. Over his last three contests, Kim’s 6-for-14 (.429) with six runs, a double, two triples, two home runs and seven RBI. 

KT Wiz 

It feels like Mel Rojas Jr. continues to fly below the radar due to his team’s struggles in the standings. However, Rojas Jr. homered in each game of a doubleheader in Samsung and he’s hit a home run in three straight contests for the second time this season. During the two games on Saturday, Rojas Jr. went 3-for-9 with two runs, two home runs (11,12) and three RBI. He now leads the KBO in RBI (36), ranks second in home runs (12) and third in average (.387). Pretty, pretty good. 

Teammate Baek-ho Kang homered for a second straight contest in Game 1 as well:

 

After a stint on the injured list with a wrist injury, it appears Kang’s power returned. He went 3-for-9 in the two games with a run and three RBI. 

Samsung Lions

  • Tyler Saladino (3B) - Playing through a back injury, Saladino went 2-for-4 with a run, double, his fifth home run and two RBI in Game 1. Following a slow start in the KBO, Saladino’s improved his average to .277 this year with five home runs and four stolen bases in 32 games. 

  • Ja-wook Koo (DH) - During both contests, Koo went 3-for-8 with two runs, hit his third home run and drove in two. He’s hit safely in five straight games off the injured list going 8-for-his-last-21 (.381) with two doubles, two home runs and five RBI. 

Lotte Giants

  • Jun-woo Jeon (OF) - Extended his hit streak to seven going 1-for-4 with his sixth home run, scored two runs, drove in two and walked. 

LG Twins

  • Bon-hyeok Koo (3B) - Entered this game hitting .083 with a matching slugging percentage then went 3-for-4 with his first home run and four RBI. 

NC Dinos

  • Myung-gi Lee (OF) - Tallied two hits in three at-bats with two runs, an RBI and a walk. Lee’s in the midst of a 10 game hit streak with five multi-hit contests in it. 

  • Sung-bum Na (OF) - Went 1-for-3 with an RBI and walked. 

  • Jin-sung Kang (OF) - Did not start but hit machine Kang hit a double in his only at-bat with a run scored in the Dinos loss. 

Sunday’s slate starts early with Hanwha trying to avoid KBO history and not losing their 19th straight game. Once the suspended game ends, Warwick Saupold takes the mound for the struggling Eagles looking to bounce back after his rough outing versus Lotte on the road. Also trying to rebound, the NC Dinos hope to snap a two-game losing streak against Kiwoom. Thanks to the league’s new Twitter handle, here’s the updated standings heading into Sunday:

 

Be sure to stay with Fantasy Alarm to remain ahead of the competition across all fantasy formats and be well. 

 

Statistical Credits

myKBOstats.com

Eng.koreabaseball.co