In a league with weak bullpens, games often turn on a dime in the KBO. Wednesday took its cue from this premise with an extra-inning contest in SK with the KT Wiz winning in the 10th inning. Kiwoom rallied late against the Lotte bullpen staying in fourth place in the standings and the NC Dinos rallied against Kia’s bullpen only to give the lead up in the bottom of the seventh leading to their second straight loss. Amongst all of this, the Samsung Lions continue to surge moving their win streak to three and going 8-2 over its last 10 contests. Plus, reliever Seung-hwan Oh notched his second save in as many days firing a clean ninth inning on nine pitches with a strikeout after making some history on Tuesday with his 400th career save across his career in the KBO, MLB and in Japan. 

Staying atop the injury news, Eduardo Perez of ESPN assured listeners league leading slugger Roberto Ramos would return to the LG Twins lineup on Thursday returning from a respite to rest his sore back and ankle. Despite missing the last five games, he remains first in the league in home runs (13), third in on-base percentage (.442) and fifth in average (.375). Baek-ho Kang did not start for KT nursing a hamstring strain but entered the game with a bang launching his eighth home run for the Wiz. Guess he’s alright. Since this column usually highlights hitters, how about a glimpse of some defense from Wednesday morning: 

Oh’s play proves rare with many fielders in the KBO unwilling to go to their backhand during games. Dixon Machado leads the KBO in good fielding plays (14) so far and he went 1-for-4 with his fifth stolen base in an eventual Lotte loss this morning. Here’s the other leaders by position courtesy of Sports Info Solutions:  

With all of this in mind, it’s time to recap the top performances on Wednesday across the KBO. 

Starting Pitcher Spotlight

Wednesday proved to be a tough one for import pitchers with both Mike Wright (NC Dinos) and Chris Flexen (Doosan) struggling. When this happens, trust the match-up targeting a struggling Hanwha offense. LG’s Chan-gyu Lim recorded his third win working six innings against the Eagles giving up five hits, one earned run and two walks with eight strikeouts with a twist:

Doing his best Zack Greinke impersonation, Lim lowered his ERA to 4.69 as a result of this outing while moving LG within two games of the Dinos in the standings. 

Won-tae Choi of Kiwoom registered his fifth quality outing in eight starts logging 6.2 innings allowing nine hits, three earned runs and a walk with five strikeouts. 

Showcasing how some pitchers survive in the KBO, Samsung’s Dae-woo Kim notched his second straight win navigating through six innings yielding five hits, two earned runs and a walk with one strikeout. Trusting his defense, Kim’s now 2-1 in June with a 2.81 ERA and only three strikeouts in 16 innings against six walks. 

Hitter Highlights

LG Twins

  • Chun-woong Lee (OF) - A perfect day at the dish going 2-for-2 with two runs and walked twice in four plate appearances. 

  • Ji-hwan Oh (SS) - Not only turned in a web gem, Oh racked up three hits in four at-bats driving in two runs. Oh’s turned in multiple hit contests his last three with seven hits in 13 at-bats (.538) with two runs, two doubles and three RBI. Not sure he will stay near the top in the lineup with Ramos’ pending return but he’s someone to monitor in DFS while hot. 

  • Hyun-Soo Kim (OF) - Went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI. Kim’s slashing .351/.398/.519 through 166 plate appearances this season. 

  • Kang-nam Yoo (C) - Finished 2-for-3 with a run and two RBI. Yoo’s knocked in 18 runs in only 14 games in June and improved his average to .312 in LG’s victory. 

Kia Tigers

  • Ho-ryung Kim (OF) - Turned in a 1-for-3 game with an RBI. 

  • Hyung-woo Choi (DH) - Drove in two runs with a hit in four at-bats. 

  • Ji-wan Na (OF) - Boom or bust candidate on any slate, Na cracked his sixth home run driving in one and scored two runs on two hits. He’s on a seven-game hit streak. 

  • Chan-ho Park (SS) - Reached base three times on two hits and a walk with two runs, two RBI and swiped his fourth base. 

NC Dinos

  • Min-woo Park (2B) - Went 1-for-5 with his fifth stolen base. 

  • Myung-gi Lee (OF) - Extended his hit streak to 13 games going 1-for-3 with a run, a walk and stole his fourth base.

  • Aaron Altherr (OF) - With teammate Eui-ji Yang getting the day off, Altherr hit fourth in the lineup with a hit in four at-bats, scored a run and drove in one. He’s one RBI behind Preston Tucker for the KBO lead. 

  • Tae-goon Kim (C) - Backup Dinos catcher Kim hit his first home run of the season driving in two over three at-bats. 

  • Jin-sung Kang (1B) - Finished 1-for-4 with an RBI and still leads the league in hitting (.439). 

Samsung Lions

  • Tyler Saladino (DH) - Launched his sixth home run during a 2-for-3 day with an RBI and walked twice. Through 14 games in June, Saldino’s hitting .333 with 11 runs, four doubles, three home runs, 10 RBI and four stolen bases with a 12:12 K:BB rate. 

  • Hak-Ju Lee (SS) - Notched his third straight multiple hit contest going 2-for-5 with a run and a double. Over his last three, Lee’s 8-for-12 with four runs, a double, a home run and four RBI. 

  • Seung-gyu Park (OF) - Tallied two hits in three at-bats with two runs, a walk and stole his third base. 

Doosan Bears

  • Joo-hwan Choi (2B) - Blasted his seventh home run and doubled in four at-bats with two runs while driving in one. 

  • Se-hyuk Park (C) - Hit his first home run of 2020, a solo shot in four at-bats. 

KT Wiz

  • Jeong-dae Bae (OF) - Racked up three hits in six at-bats with an RBI and stole his third base. 

  • Mel Rojas Jr. (OF) - Doubled, scored two runs and walked in five plate appearances. 

  • Kyung-soo Park (2B) - Also tallied three hits but in four at-bats with a run, double, RBI and walked. 

  • Baek-ho Kang (1B) - Launched a pinch hit home run in two at-bats with an RBI and also walked. This marked Kang’s eighth home run in only 22 contests. 

SK Wyverns

  • Jong-wook Ko (OF) - Finished with two hits in five at-bats and scored a run. 

  • Jeong Choi (3B) - Continues to heat up going 2-for-4 with two runs, his fifth home run, drove in two runs and walked. He’s hit three homers his last three games and hit safely in seven of his last eight. 

Lotte Giants

  • Hoon Jung (DH) - In his first game back for Lotte off the injured list, Jung went 2-for-4 with a double and scored a run. 

  • Ah-seop Son (OF) - Also went 2-for-4 with a run and a double. 

  • Jun-woo Jeon (OF) - Cracked his seventh home run driving in all three Lotte runs in a loss. 

Kiwoom Heroes

  • Jung-hoo Lee (OF) - Last, but certainly not least, Lee recorded a perfect day going 4-for-4 with two runs, a double and an RBI improving his average to .379 on the season which ranks third in the KBO. He’s also second in on-base percentage (.446) and third in hits (55) trailing leader Jose Miguel Fernandez by only five with Lee surging of late. Plus, his next home run will set a career high at age 21. 

With the last game of the three-game sets on tap for Thursday, how many players will Hanwha recall from the Futures league? After their purge during the manager change in their losing streak, Hanwha sent out 10 players from the roster. Thursday represents the first day they can return to the team, stay tuned. With Roberto Ramos set to return barring a setback, the LG Twins look to sweep Hanwha in their home park with Tyler Wilson slated to start. 

It’s rare for the NC Dinos to carry a losing streak, but they send ace Chang-mo Koo to the mound in Kia looking to salvage a game in the series matching up with Drew Gagnon. Also set to start, Dan Straily tries to win the series in Kiwoom. Be sure to stay with Fantasy Alarm to remain ahead of the competition across all fantasy formats. 

 

Statistical Credits

myKBOstats.com

Eng.koreabaseball.co