Kim Ha-seong, 28, did his part to support and protect teammate Darvish Yu, 37, of the San Diego Padres’ 100th major league win.
Kim went 1-for-4 with a double, one walk, one run scored, one RBI and one stolen base in the seventh and second spots in the lineup on Tuesday (July 10) at Coors Field in Denver, Colorado, USA. With his two-hit game and two-game hitting streak, Kim’s season batting average remained unchanged at .246 and his OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) dipped slightly from .723 to .721.
With the two-game winning streak, San Diego went 30-33 and remained in fourth place in the National League West.
There are three main things that have made Kim so appealing this season. The first is his tenacious baseball, fueled by his excellent leadoff stuff and ability to make contact. Although he recently lost the top spot to Patrick Wisdom (Chicago Cubs), Kim is still forcing pitchers to throw the second-most pitches in the majors at 4.51 pitches per at-bat.
Colorado starter Austin Gomber also struggled on this day. In the first inning, Kim walked every pitch up the middle and didn’t touch any pitches outside the strike zone. The result was a six-pitch walk. In his second at-bat, Gomber got Kim to ground out to second base.
The second pitch was a continuation of the first. This season, starting pitchers have been struggling when facing Ha-Sung Kim. Clayton Kershaw, Dustin May, Julio Urias (Los Angeles Dodgers), and Gerrit Cole (New York Yankees) to name a few. Once again, Kim lined a changeup up the middle with runners on first and third in the fifth inning with San Diego up 6-1, sending Gomber down. Gomber’s final line was four innings, 11 hits (three home runs), two walks, one strikeout and seven runs.
After retiring the side in order in the top of the seventh, the right-hander went straight to his third charm on defense in the bottom of the seventh. Charlie Blackmon took Tom Cosgrove’s body sinker well and produced a ground ball. Kim caught it, held it in his glove, and threw to first baseman Jake Cronenwirth for the final out. Flexible defense from the National League second baseman, who won a Gold Glove.
San Diego gave up a two-run homer to Mustachus in the bottom of the eighth, but the nine runs they had scored earlier kept them from falling behind. The Dodgers jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first inning on a Manny Machado double to right-center, an RBI single by Cronenwirth, a Trent Grisham solo shot to left and a Gary Sanchez double to left. The offense produced five more runs, including an RBI single by Ha-Sung Kim, a solo shot to left-center field by Fernando Tatis Jr. in the sixth and a solo shot to center field by Brandon Dixon in the seventh to seal the 9-6 victory.
The game marked a milestone for Darvish, who reached 100 career wins (79) in his 12th season in the majors after joining the Texas Rangers in 2012. Darvish accumulated 52 wins in five years with Texas, his longest tenure, four wins in half a decade with the Los Angeles Dodgers, 15 wins in three years with the Chicago Cubs, and 29 wins since joining San Diego in 2021. He is the third Asian major leaguer to win 100 games, behind Hideo Nomo and Chan Ho Park.
It was a steady pitching performance. After entering with three runs in the first inning, Darvish struck out two in the second to extend his hitting streak to six batters. In the third inning, he ran into a bit of trouble. He gave up a walk to Nolan Jones, a wild pitch to put runners on first and second, and an RBI single up the middle to Ezequiel Toba. But he got Charlie Blackmon to fly out to end the threat.스포츠토토
He then pitched a scoreless inning. He gave up a hit and a walk in the fourth and two walks in the fifth, but retired the last batter he faced. However, he gave up another big hit in the fourth inning. After giving up singles to Ryan McMan and Mike Moustakas, Darvish was hit by a huge two-run double to left field with runners on first and second. Reliever Tom Cosgrove gave up an RBI single to Elefuris Montero, bringing both of Darvish’s runners home. Montero was thrown out at second base to end the threat, and Darvish pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing four runs on five hits with four walks and six strikeouts to earn the win and become the third Asian player to reach the 100-win milestone in the big leagues.