In the eighth inning, the unbelievable happened.
The Kiwoom Heroes, coached by Hong Won-ki, lost their ninth game of the season 6-16 against the Hanwha Eagles of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Friday, ending their winning streak and dropping to eighth place.
Kiwoom had an unbelievable eighth inning. In a bad way. Kiwoom entered the eighth inning with a 6-3 lead. They brought up Kim Jae-woong. But Kim faltered, giving up a leadoff single to Moon Hyun-bin and back-to-back walks to Kim Tae-yeon and Choi Jae-hoon. The Kiwoom bench dropped Kim Jae-woong and brought up Lee Myung-jong.
Lee Myung-jong couldn’t stop the Hanwha bats either. He gave up a single to Ha Joo-seok, a sacrifice fly to Lee Jin-young, and a walk to Jung Eun-won, and was later ejected by manager Hong Won-ki for protesting a video replay call. Kiwoom didn’t settle down easily. They gave up a pushing double to Noh Si-hwan. The game was tied.
The Kiwoom bench brought up Kim Sun-ki. But Kim also gave up an RBI double to Chae Eun-sung, an RBI single to Moon Hyun-bin, an RBI single to Kim Tae-yeon and an RBI triple to Kwon Kwang-min. Nick Williams singled and walked Ha Joo-seok to load the bases. Kim Sun-ki flied out to center without getting an out.
As the innings wore on and the runs piled up, the Kiwoom home fans in the first base bleachers left one by one. Only the Hanwha fans remained in good spirits.
Yoon Seok-won came up. As soon as Yoon came up, he was hit by a three-run home run off Lee Jin-young. Back-to-back singles by Jung Eun-won 토토 and Noh Si-hwan shook him. Only after Jang Ji-seung grounded out to shortstop did the long eighth inning end. Hanwha was in the batting order. It is the second KBO record after Sajik Lotte (3) on April 7, 2019.
I tried my best in the remaining innings, but I couldn’t smile. There was no reversal.
Kim Jae-woong gave up three runs on one hit and two walks in 0.1 innings, Lee Myung-jong gave up three runs on one hit and two walks in 0.1 innings, Kim Sun-ki gave up six runs on five hits and one walk in 0.1 innings, and Yoon Seok-won gave up one run on three hits in 0.1 innings. In the eighth inning alone, the four pitchers combined for a disastrous 13 runs on 10 hits and five walks. The 13 runs are tied for the second most in a single inning.
Kiwoom’s starting pitcher Jang Jae-young, the “nine-billion-arm” fireballer, struck out a career-high nine batters and threw 99 pitches, and rookie catcher Kim Dong-heon hit his first career home run. But the bright spots were overshadowed by a disastrous eighth inning.