Another day, another NC Dinos win with an 8-2 defeat of Hanwha. This resulted in Hanwha’s 14th consecutive loss and the resignation of its manager:

 

Reading the articles about the team’s struggles, it’s apparent a rebuild needs to happen but the club seems hesitant to begin the process. Perhaps a new coaching staff brings this about. However, Hanwha owns an aging roster so keeping tabs on how they handle this could be intriguing. During a tied game in the bottom of the eighth, Doosan rallied for the second straight day:

 

Defending champion Doosan won its fourth straight and into second place over the weekend. Before delving into the game action, part of the allure of the KBO lies in its flare, from the players:

 

Along with the umpires as well: 

 

Last, the KT Wiz could get a boost to their lineup this week with the return of Baek-ho Kang: 

 

Prior to landing on the injured list Kang owned a .333/.400/.737 slash line with five home runs and 14 RBI in 14 games. Now it’s time to cover the top performances from Sunday’s slate. 

Starting Pitcher Spotlight

Samsung’s David Buchanan fired six shutout innings in SK giving up four hits and three walks with five strikeouts. This marks his third straight win and he’s only allowed one earned run over his last 20 innings with 13 strikeouts against five walks. Through his first 38 innings this year, Buchanan’s ERA moved to 3.79 and his WHIP to 1.18 with a 4-2 record. 

Benefiting from the NC Dinos offense and a match-up with Hanwha, Jae-hak Lee notched his third win working seven innings yielding two hits, one earned run and a walk with two strikeouts. 

Navigating through traffic, Woo-chan Cha logged seven shutout innings allowing six hits and five walks with five strikeouts. This outing lowered his ERA to 3.97 but his 1.44 WHIP needs to improve going forward. 

Se-woong Park recorded his first win of the season working six innings giving up three hits, one earned run and a walk with seven strikeouts versus the KT Wiz. 

Hitter Highlights

NC Dinos

Paced by the KBO leader in batting average, NC scored eight more runs in a win over Hanwha including this rope: 

 

Jin-sung Kang leads the league in each category of the slash line hitting a robust .468/.522/.835 through 93 plate appearances this year. He finished 3-for-5 with two runs, a double and drove in three runs. Kang’s hit safely in 10 of his last 11 contests and averages more than an RBI per game (27 RBI in 26 games). Pretty, pretty good. His teammates also chipped into the Dinos fifth straight victory:

  • Myung-gi Lee (OF) - Went 2-for-3 with two runs, a double, an RBI and walked. 

  • Aaron Altherr (OF) - Launched his eighth home run during a 2-for-4 day with a run, three RBI and walked. Altherr’s on a five game hit streak with nine runs and nine RBI plus he’s homered in three of his last four contests. 

  • Tae-goon Kim (C) - Filling in affably for Eui-ji Yang, Kim tallied two hits in four at-bats and scored two runs. 

LG Twins

  • Hyun-Soo Kim (OF) - Entered Sunday’s game with a .411 average versus right-handed pitchers and six walks against two strikeouts. Kim went 2-for-5 with two runs, his second home run and drove in two during the Twins win over Kiwoom. 

  • Roberto Ramos (1B) - Did not homer but went 3-for-5 with an RBI. He’s racked up multiple hits in three of his last four games. 

  • Kang-nam Yoo (C) - Entered the game as a pinch hitter and finished 3-for-3 with a run and two RBI. Yoo’s hit safely in nine of his last 11 going 17-for-36 (.472) with nine runs, three home runs and 12 RBI. 

Lotte Giants

  • Ah-seop Son (OF) - On-base machine Son reached in two of his four plate appearances with a hit along with a walk, scored two runs and doubled. His OBP (.426) remains above his slugging percentage (.400) this year. 

  • Dae-Ho Lee (DH) - Went 1-for-3 with a run, double, RBI and walked. 

KT Wiz

  • Min-hyeok Kim (OF) - Hit his third home run driving in two during a 2-for-4 day. 

  • Jeong-dae Bae (OF) - Moved his hit streak to seven going 2-for-3 with a walk. 

Samsung Lions

  • Tyler Saladino (DH) - Scored a run, went 1-for-2 and walked. 

  • Hak-Ju Lee (SS) - Entered the game as a pinch hitter and blasted his second home run of the year in his only at-bat. 

Doosan Bears

  • Jae-il Oh (1B) - Recorded two hits in four at-bats including a double and scored a run. 

  • Se-hyuk Park (C) - Tallied three hits in four at-bats with a run, double and an RBI. 

Kia Tigers

  • Ho-ryeong Kim (OF) - Continues to be a spark plug atop the Kia lineup going 2-for-3 with two runs, a double and a triple. Kim’s on a six-game hit streak during which he’s scored nine runs going 9-for-24 (.375). 

  • Seung-taek Han (C) - Finished 3-for-4 with a double. 

This concludes another week in KBO action and here’s the updated standings: 

 

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

 

Statistical Credits

myKBOstats.com

Eng.koreabaseball.co