“At that time, the manager batted number 7.” The club’s lowest ever win of 20 games. Why did the KIA pitcher say 2017 was stronger?

The professional baseball KIA Tigers achieved the club’s lowest ever win of 20 games, becoming the first team to reach 20 wins in the league this season.

KIA won 13-2 against Kiwoom Heroes in the ‘2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League’ held at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 26th, sweeping the three-game series during the week. It is a sweep against Kiwoom after 1,113 days since April 6-8, 2021.

Kim Do-young led the team to victory by going 2 hits in 5 at-bats, 1 home run, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored. On this day, he hit his 10th home run of the season, becoming the first player in KBO league history to achieve 10 home runs and 10 stolen bases per month. Choi Won-jun also hit his third home run of the season, and Socrates Brito went 3-for-5 with one RBI and two runs scored.

On the mound, starting pitcher Yang Hyeon-jong recorded a victory with 4 hits (1 home run), 1 walk, 6 strikeouts, and 2 runs in 7 innings. With his second win of the season, he reached the 170th win mark in his career. Kim Geon-guk, who came on the mound after him, pitched well in two innings, allowing one hit, striking out three, and allowing no runs.

With this victory, KIA recorded 20 wins, 7 losses, and a winning percentage of 741 for the season. They reached the 20th win mark in the 27th game since the season opened. This is the fastest time to achieve 20 wins in KIA club history. In 2017, when they won the Korean Series, they achieved 20 wins in the opening 28 games. The fewest wins of 20 games in KBO League history were recorded by Hyundai (20 wins, 5 losses) in 2000, SK (20 wins, 5 losses) in 2008, and SK (20 wins, 5 losses) in 2010.

KIA, which is accumulating victories at an all-time pace, is challenging to win the Korean Series for the first time in 7 years since 2017. However, ace Yang Hyeon-jong said in an interview after the game that day, “I feel sorry for the current players, but this is not the case yet. “KIA cannot keep up in 2017,” he said, emphasizing that players need to work harder.

“The atmosphere is still very good and we have never had such a wide win-loss margin at the beginning of a season. Yang Hyeon-jong said, “It doesn’t look like we’ll lose at any time,” and added, “But looking back, I still think KIA was stronger in 2017. In 2017, we had a lot of wins as we started to advance in June. Since we are on the rise this year, I naturally think that our overall condition will decline at some point. Therefore, in good times, the margin of victory or loss should be widened as much as possible so that there will be no damage when it falls later,” he explained.

“Our players are trying to win one game at a time,” Yang Hyun-jong said emphatically, adding, “Few players will know that we won 20 games today. “I think team performance and individual performance follow because the players are always thinking, ‘Let’s win today’ or ‘Let’s at least have a winning series.’”

In 2017, KIA swept the regular league championship and the Korean Series championship, recording 87 wins, 1 draw, 56 losses, and a winning percentage of .608. The team ranked first in the league in scoring (906) and fourth in least goals conceded by the team (743). In 2017, KIA dominated the league with a strong line that is still talked about to this day.

Yang Hyun-jong said, “The bat is still good, but looking back on 2017, it was shockingly good. The texture was so solid. (Lee) Beomho-hyung… No, the weight at bat was not a joke when the manager hit number 7. I think I was very shocked when I saw that. Looking back, I think that if the manager could hit number 7, how well did the hitters above him play? Of course, the current hitters are very good and their cohesion is good, but I still think 2017 was a little more impactful and strong,” he said with a smile. /[email protected]

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