The fourth-ranked Doosan Bears improved their postseason position with a win over the fifth-ranked Kia Tigers on a day off.

Doosan defeated KIA 8-4 on April 18 at Gwangju’s KIA Champions Field in the first game of the visiting Shinhan Bank SOL KBO Baseball League 2023.

Doosan extended its winning streak to seven games and widened its lead over Kia to two games.

KIA dropped its fifth straight game and cut its lead over sixth-place SSG Landers to zero. Kia narrowly held on to fifth place with a 0.001 win percentage lead over SSG.

Doosan pounded opposing starter Hwang Dong-ha from the first inning. After back-to-back singles by Jeong Soo-bin and Jose Rojas put runners on second and third with no outs, Yang Seok-hwan scored the first run on an infield grounder.

Doosan’s bats exploded in the third inning with a 1-0 lead.

With runners on first and second after leadoff hitter Cho Su-hyun singled to right and Jung Soo-bin was hit by a pitch, Rojas blasted a three-run home run over the right field fence.

Doosan’s offense continued. After Yang Seok-hwan singled to center to load the bases, Yang Ji took advantage of Hwang Dong-ha’s first pitch and launched a two-run shot to left field.

Doosan rattled Hwang even more. Kang Seung-ho and Kim In-tae drew back-to-back walks before Cho Su-hyun singled to right to make it 7-0.

There was a crisis. In the bottom of the seventh, with the score 8-0, Doosan gave up two runs and had runners on first and second after bullpen Choi Ji-gang faltered, but Park Shin-ji struck out Na Sung-beom, Choi Hyung-woo, and Kim Sun-bin in order to save the day.

In the bottom of the eighth, Doosan’s defense was also on display as Park gave up back-to-back singles to put runners on first and second with no outs, and reliever Lee Young-ha gave up a walk to Choi Won-joon and a double to Kim Do-young to cut the deficit to 8-4.

However, Lee Young-ha got out of the jam by preventing any further runs.

In the bottom of the ninth, Doosan brought in closer Chung Chul-won to close out the game.

Doosan Rojas led the offense with four hits, including a home run, two doubles, three RBIs and one run scored.

Doosan starter Kwak Bin earned his 11th win of the season (7-0) with six innings of eight-hit ball, no walks and five strikeouts.

At Daejeon Hanwha Life Eagles Park, the eighth-ranked Hanwha Eagles bounced back from a doubleheader sweep the day before to take down the second-ranked KT Wiz.

Hanwha snapped a four-game losing streak with a 6-2 victory. KT closed to within one game of third-place NC Dinos, who did not play on the day.

The two teams, who were forced to play a doubleheader after a three-hour rain delay the day before, showed mixed results on the day.

Hanwha’s players were focused and focused, while KT looked tired.

Hanwha gave up a run in the top of the second inning off starter Lee Tae-yang, but quickly turned the game around in the bottom of the inning.

After back-to-back errors by second baseman Lee Ho-yeon and third baseman Hwang Jae-gyun and a walk to load the bases, Hanwha tied the game at 1-1 with a grounder to shortstop by Choi Jae-hoon.

With runners on first and third, Choi In-ho drove in another run with a groundout.

In the bottom of the inning, Williams hit a two-run shot to left field off KT starter Kim Min.

On a one-pitch, one-strike count, he took advantage of a three-pitch fastball.

However, Williams felt pain in his right hamstring (the muscle behind the thigh) after hitting the home run and was replaced by Kwon Kwang-min at the plate.

Hanwha added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 4-1 lead. Choi Jae-hoon and Choi In-ho exploded for back-to-back hits, followed by Lee Do-yoon’s sacrifice bunt and Lee Jin-young’s two-run double to left field to make it 6-1.

Hanwha gave up a run in the fifth inning off the hard-throwing Lee Tae-yang, but Joo Hyun-sang, Lee Min-woo, Jang Si-hwan, and Park Sang-won put together a relay effort to close out the game.

Choi Jae-hoon went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI, while Lee Tae-yang earned his third win of the season with five innings of three-hit ball, two walks, three strikeouts and two runs. 스포츠토토