Thursday proved to be chalk day in the KBO with all five favorites recording wins featuring plenty of runs and two shutouts. Hanwha dropped its tenth straight contest losing 7-3 to Kiwoom remaining in last place after being leap-frogged by SK over the weekend. Here are the updated standings with teams traveling for new three game sets on Friday: 

During the LG Twins trouncing of Samsung, some history occurred: 

Amidst all the game action, some roster updates also happened overnight. One affects the defending champs Doosan and its rotation:

Samsung’s 18-year-old phenom Yun-deong Heo did not incur an injury, but returned to the Futures league to get more seasoning: 

With all of this in mind, here’s for the player performances of note from the KBO on Thursday. 

Starting Pitcher Spotlight

Entering Thursday’s start with a 5.06 ERA, 5.07 FIP and 1.44 WHIP, Chan-heon Jung did not possess underlying statistics hinting at a breakout outing but fired seven shutout innings against Samsung giving up three hits and two walks while striking out 11 including this beauty: 

Jung lowered his ERA to 3.52 and WHIP to 1.22 while raising his strikeout total to 25 over his first 23 innings this year. 

Drew Rucinski notched his fourth win tossing six shutout frames against the SK Wyverns allowing five hits and three walks with eight strikeouts. Rucinski’s made six starts this year with five quality ones, owns a 2.11 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and 38:10 K:BB during 38.1 innings. 

Kia’s Aaron Brooks won his second game lasting 6.2 innings yielding seven hits, two earned runs and two walks with five strikeouts against Lotte. Brooks dropped his ERA to 3.13 this year with a 1.26 WHIP and 31 strikeouts in his first six starts spanning 37.1 innings in the KBO. 

Eric Jokisch recorded his fifth win moving to 5-0 for Kiwoom logging 6.1 innings giving up eight hits, three earned runs and striking out three at Hanwha. This start represented a little migration to the mean for Jokisch moving his ERA to 1.49 on the season but he kept his WHIP below one (0.94) through 36.1 innings with a tidy 30:5 K:BB rate. 

Hitter Highlights

Doosan Bears

Scoring a slate high 14 runs on 14 hits, a Doosan stack paid off handsomely in DFS action. Even with the KBO’s leading hitter Jose Miguel Fernandez not turning in a huge outing going 1-for-5 with two runs and a walk. His teammates carried the offense and some with a little flare like Jae-won Oh’s bat flip on his fourth home run: 

Here’s Doosan’s top performers from Thursday:

  • Kun-woo Park (OF) - Went 2-for-5 with two runs and a walk atop the lineup. 
  • Jae-il Oh (1B) - Scored two runs with a hit and a walk in five plate appearances while driving in a run. 
  • Jae-hwan Kim (OF) - Launched his sixth home run among his two hits in three at-bats scoring four runs, driving in four along with drawing two walks. 
  • Joo-hwan Choi (3B) - Recorded three hits including his sixth home run, scored two runs, and drove in four in five at-bats. 
  • Jae-won Oh (2B) - Also racked up three hits in five at-bats driving in four. 

LG Twins 

  • Kang-nam Yoo (C) - Finished 3-for-4 with three runs, a double his fourth home run and four RBI. He has hit safely in seven of his last eight contests going 13-for-26 with eight runs, three home runs, and 10 RBI. 
  • Chun-woong Lee (OF) - Tallied two hits in five at-bats with a double and two RBI. 
  • Roberto Ramos (1B) - Returned to the field and went 2-for-5 with a run scored. Watch for his power to return this weekend in a visit to Kiwoom. 
  • Min-sung Kim (3B) - Turned in a 2-for-3 game with a run, double, and two RBI. 

NC Dinos

  • Eui-ji Yang (C) - Went 1-for-2 with a grand slam, his fourth home run this year and drove in five runs for the Dinos. 
  • Aaron Altherr (OF) - Blasted his fourth home run during a 1-for-3 game with two runs, an RBI and reached via a hit-by-pitch. 
  • Sung-bum Na (OF) - Another multi-hit game going 2-for-4 with a run, double, two RBI and walked. 

Kia Tigers

  • Ho-ryeong Kim (OF) - In his third straight start, homered for the second time this season and thriving as a spark plug atop the Tigers lineup. 
  • Preston Tucker (OF) - Finished 2-for-4 including his eighth home run driving in one while scoring twice. Tucker still leads the KBO in RBI (29) but nursing a quad injury which will need to be monitored going forward. 
  • Hyung-woo Choi (DH) - Cracked his fifth home run, a solo shot, and walked in four plate appearances. 

Kiwoom Heroes

  • Keon-chang Seo (DH) - Getting the day off from the field, Seo racked up a combo meal hitting his fourth home run and stealing his fourth base in a 2-for-4 performance with two runs, an RBI and a walk. 
  • Ha-seong Kim (SS) - Moved his hit streak to five games going 2-for-5 with a run and stole his third base. Kim’s recorded multiple hits in three of his last five contests. 
  • Byung-ho Park (1B) - Went 1-for-3 with a run, RBI and walked twice. 
  • Dong-won Park (C) - Tallied two hits including a double with a run scored and two RBI. 
  • Byung-woo Jeon (3B) - At a time when third baseman seem difficult to find in DFS, perhaps Jeon’s hot streak makes him an alluring target? Jeon went 2-for-4 hitting his first home run this season and drove in two. Over his last four games, Jeon’s 9-for-17 (.529) with seven RBI. 

KT Wiz

  • Woo-jun Sim (SS) - Racked up two hits in three at-bats with two runs, an RBI and two walks. 
  • Mel Rojas Jr. (OF) - Doubled in a run in two at-bats but left the game early. Stay tuned as more information emerges. 

Friday brings new match ups once again with teams on the move around South Korea in preparation for the new three game sets: 

  • Kia Tigers (15-12) at Doosan Bears (16-10)
  • KT Wiz (11-15) at Lotte (11-15)
  • LG Twins (17-9) at Kiwoom (15-12)
  • NC Dinos (20-6) at Hanwha (7-20)
  • Samsung (12-15) at SK Wyverns (8-18)

Be sure to stay with Fantasy Alarm across all fantasy formats to remain ahead of the competition as more sports move towards resuming. 

Statistical Credits:

myKBOstats.com
Eng.koreabaseball.com