The KIA Tigers are in the midst of a ‘strikeout nightmare’ that has left them with an ignominious record.
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 April 16.
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 inning.
But in the fourth inning, the lead quickly faltered. He allowed 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, giving up a run, but it looked like he had a respite with runners on first and second.
However, Lee gave up an RBI single to Seo Ho-cheol. 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 pinch-hit 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 the tying run with a straight grounder to Park Min-woo.
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 gave up a walk to Park Seok-min to load the bases again, but struck out Kim Sung-wook.
KIA had a whopping seven walks during its eight-run fourth inning. Lee Yi-ri had five and Kwak Do-gyu and Hwang Dong-ha had one each.스포츠토토
Seven walks in an inning is a KBO record. The record was previously held three times, including by the Samsung Lions against the LG Twins on June 26, 2021.
It looked like the game was completely out of reach, but 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.