The Kia Tigers have become the subject of a disgraceful record as they fall into a ‘strikeout nightmare’.
KIA is playing the fourth game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League against the NC Dinos at KIA Champions Field in Gwangju on the 16th.
KIA took a 5-0 lead after Socrates Brito’s grand slam in the first inning and a run scored on a wild pitch in the third.
In the fourth inning, however, the advantage quickly faltered. He gave up a leadoff single to Park Min-woo.
Lee got Park to ground out to third, but gave up a single to Jason Martin. He then walked Park Seok-min on four consecutive pitches to load the bases.
He then gave up a sacrifice fly to Kim Sung-wook to put runners on first and second with one out.
However, Lee gave up a single to Seo Ho-cheol to load the bases. He then battled Park Se-hyuk for nine pitches before giving up a walk to put runners on the corners again.
He then gave up back-to-back pushing singles to Kim Joo-won and Son As-seob, making the score 5-4.
KIA couldn’t take it anymore and decided to make a substitution.
However, the next pitchers were not able to get out of the jam. Kwak Do-gyu gave up a straight grounder to Park Min-woo to tie the game 안전놀이터.
The third pitcher, Hwang Dong-ha, gave up a double to Park Gun-woo and another to Martin to make it 5-8. He then allowed a walk to Park Seok-min to load the bases again, but struck out Kim Sung-wook.
KIA had seven walks in the top of the fourth inning while scoring eight runs. Lee Yi-ri had five and Kwak Do-gyu and Hwang Dong-ha had one each.
Seven walks in an inning is a KBO League record. Prior to KIA, the record had been set three times, including by the Samsung Lions against the LG Twins on 26 June 2021.
Just when it looked like the game was out of reach, KIA’s bats came alive again. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Lee Woo-sung’s RBI single was followed by Choi Hyung-woo’s three-run homer to make it 9-8.