Kia Tigers’ Yang Hyun-jong (35) has been criticized again.
Yang Hyun-jong started against the SSG Landers on Sunday at Kia Champions Field in Gwangju, giving up seven runs on 11 hits with two walks and two strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. He totaled 86 pitches.
It was a good start. After striking out the side in the top of the first, Yang gave up an infield single to Ha Jae-hoon and walked Oh Tae-gon, but retired the next two batters to escape the jam. The KIA bats took the pressure off Yang with back-to-back home runs by Socrates Brito and Choi Hyung-woo in the bottom of the first.
However, Yang Hyun-jong suddenly started to falter in the third inning. After giving up a double over the center field fence to leadoff hitter Kang Jin-sung, Yang gave up his first run on a double to left-center field to Choi Ji-hoon. Park Sung-sung singled to load the bases, and Choi Jung-hwa singled to center field. After striking out Guillermo Heredia, Yang gave up a walk to Ha Jae-hoon to put runners on first and second, and Oh Tae-gon singled to left-center to score the third run.
The KIA bats responded in the bottom of the third inning with a three-run blast from Socrates to take the lead again. However, Yang Hyun-jong gave up three runs again in the top of the fourth inning when Choi Ji-hoon, Park Sung-hwan, and Choi Jung Eredia were hit by four consecutive singles.
Luck was not on their side. In the fifth, leadoff hitter Oh Tae-gon hit a ball toward the left-field foul line that was initially ruled a foul ball, but video review showed it crossed the line and was ruled a double. Yang Hyun-jong hit a double to right-center off Kim Min-sik with the bases loaded after a successful sacrifice bunt by Kim Sung-hyun. Eventually, pitching coach Jung Myung-won took the mound, and Yang Hyun-jong was relieved by Hwang Dong-ha.
Yang Hyun-jong had made a start against the Busan Lotte Giants on April 2, giving up nine runs on nine hits (one home run) in two innings with two walks and one strikeout before being pulled early. After this game, he was criticized again.
메이저사이트 This is the first time since joining KIA in 2007 that Yang has recorded seven earned runs in two consecutive games. In 2011 (6⅓ innings against Lotte on May 13, 4⅔ innings against LG Electronics on May 19), 2016 (5⅓ innings against Samsung Electronics on August 5, 7 innings against Nexen on August 11), 2017 (4⅔ innings against Doosan on May 20, 5⅓ innings against Lotte on May 26), 2019 (6 runs in 6 innings against KT on March 29, 7 runs in 2 innings against Samsung on April 4), and 2020 (6 runs in 5 innings against Samsung on October 24, 6 runs in 5⅓ innings against Doosan on October 29). In both games, the pitchers pitched less than five innings and gave up seven runs, which raises concerns not only about the outcome but also about the content.