Can the team change so suddenly?
The KIA Tigers are on a steep upward curve. Until May, he endured with a win rate of 50%, but his pitching power declined. It was not a starter baseball, and Choi Hyung-woo and Socrates, who led the batting line, fell into silence. The deficit widened to 8 and fell to 9th place. The downtrend was more pronounced than the uptrend.
However, starting with the game against Incheon SSG on July 5th, he ran 5 consecutive victories. They recorded a good record of 6 wins and 2 losses in 8 matches in the metropolitan area, including LG. Against 1st place LG, 2nd place SSG, and 1st place KT after June, they succeeded in turning around in the biggest match in the first half. He jumped up to 6th in no time. Hitting, defense, and mound are all on the rise.
The first reason is the catcher Kim Tae-gun effect. As soon as he wore the KIA uniform through a trade with Samsung on July 5, he is making a breakthrough in air defense. At the end of the game on the 5th, he entered an at-bat, scored an RBI with a sacrifice fly, and wore a mask for a while. I arrived right before the game because I was traveling after the trade, so it was for a taste.바카라
On the 6th, before SSG, he wore a mask in earnest as the main catcher. He led the team to a 7-6 victory by working in harmony with Yang Hyeon-jong, who pitched 5 innings and 1 run. In particular, as a hitter, he made a big success with 2 hits and 2 RBIs in 4 at-bats, including a double next to right fielder against Kim Gwang-hyun in the second inning with 2 out and 2 base, reporting the final hit.
In the first game of the Suwon series against KT on the 7th, he kept his mask until the end and led to a 6-2 victory. It was Bullpen Day, and starter Kim Geon-guk was sent off for a headshot, so the game seemed to be twisted. However, Kim Jae-yeol’s good pitching with 2 runs in 4 innings and the bullpen’s scoreless led to the game. He had one hit and one RBI and contributed greatly to the win.
On the 8th, KT and Suwon Gyeonggi calmly comforted Lee Eui-ri, who was suffering from control issues, and supported the good pitching of 5 scoreless innings. In particular, in the 5th inning, when the pitch was shaken and faced with a crisis, the ball combination that led the tricky Hwang Jae-gyun to a strikeout was impressive. As a hitter, he contributed to a 4-game winning streak with 1 hit and 1 RBI.
On the 9th, he teamed up with right-hander Mario Sanchez, who made his KBO league debut, to win 5-1. Sanchez pitched well with 10 strikeouts, 5 hits and 1 run in 6⅓ innings. Kim Tae-goon had no RBIs, but scored one hit and continued his streak of hitting in five consecutive games. The team continued its upward trend by achieving a sweep.
The mound is greatly stabilized as Kim Tae-goon wears a mask. He showed solid defensive abilities as the main catcher in lead, blocking, throwing, meat quality, and framing. Pitchers were encouraged to pitch with a sense of stability. The ERA on the mound was only 1.80 during the five-game winning streak. Like a veteran, he produced an RBI in the 7th or 8th batting order in offense and demonstrated the ability to connect to the next hitter.
Of course, KIA was not the only effect of Kim Tae-gun. The effect of Na Seong-beom and Kim Do-young who returned was also great. Na Seong-beom posted 12 RBIs and 11 points in 12 games with 6 home runs and a batting average of 3.5 3. He posted 4 homers and 8 RBIs in the process of winning 5 games in a row. Kim Do-young dominated the game, scoring 10 points with 3.46, 2 homers, 6 RBIs and 6 stolen bases.
Even Choi Hyung-woo, who had been slowing down, came back to life and survived with 4.102, 2 homers, 4 RBIs and 5 runs in 5 games. Socrates also recovered and transformed into a nuclear strike ship. From the 11th, KIA will go on a hunt for the last 3 consecutive matches against Samsung in the first half with all its strength, including Kim Sun-bin, who has returned from injury.