The Doosan Bears have won five straight games with back-to-back come-from-behind victories. The team’s mood is as high as it was during the 11-game winning streak. In fact, the manager smiles that the mood is even better than then.
Doosan extended its winning streak to five games with an 8-6 victory in the 13th game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League against the KIA Tigers at Gwangju-KIA Champions Field on Friday, improving its record to 62 wins, 1 loss and 57 draws (0.521). They remain in sixth place in the standings, but their lead over the fifth-place Kia Tigers is gone.
Doosan was unable to secure victory until the middle of the game, when Lee Woo-sung hit a grand slam in the bottom of the fourth inning, but pinch-hitter Park Joon-young tied the game at 6-6 in the top of the eighth, and Kim In-tae and Park Joon-young hit back-to-back RBI singles in the top of the ninth to win the game. Players and fans alike were ecstatic to see Doosan come from behind for the second straight game, following a 3-2 victory over the SSG Landers in Jamsil on the 14th.스포츠토토
Before the away game against KIA on the 16th was canceled due to rain, Doosan coach Lee Seung-yeop said, “I think the SSG game on the 14th and the KIA game on the 15th were big. The team atmosphere can only get better. If you lose like that, it’s physically and mentally exhausting, but when you win a game like that, it’s helpful to look at it as an atmosphere.”
“When you hit a grand slam, it’s a big blow, and it really gets the team going, but we followed it up with back-to-back closers, so we’re feeling good about that. We’re on a five-game winning streak, but I think the atmosphere is better now than when we were on an 11-game winning streak in July,” he said.
Infielder Kang Seung-ho also contributed to the team’s five-game winning streak by becoming the 30th player in KBO history to record a cycling hit. He hit a home run in his second at-bat, followed by a double, a triple, a walk, and a single, creating the first reverse natural cycling hit in KBO history.
Manager Lee Seung-yeop said, “It’s amazing. It has only been recorded 30 times in the 40-year history of the game.” “I think Kang Seung-ho is getting better. He’s a good enough player, so I hope he’ll hit better in the future starting from the 15th game. Yesterday was ‘appreciation’,” and applauded Kang Seung-ho’s record.
Lee, who watched Kang Seung-ho closely during his early season struggles, couldn’t have been more pleased. “It wasn’t the picture I envisioned from camp,” Lee said, “but it was hard for Seung-ho because he was struggling, but the coaching staff was also struggling to organize the batting order. I think Seung-ho’s good performance like yesterday at a crucial time at the end of the season led to a team victory for us, and if he continues to perform like this in the future, I hope other players will also show strength in the batting lineup.” Lee encouraged Seung-ho.
Meanwhile, ahead of the eight-game series, Doosan announced that Raul Alcantara will start on the 17th, while Kwak Bin will make his final start before joining the national team for the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games on the 18th. Left-handers Jang Won-jun and Choi Seung-yong will take over the starting duties on the 19th and 20th against the Jamsil NC Dinos. However, due to Kwak Bin’s absence from the starting lineup, the rotation after that has yet to be finalized.
“It (the eight-game series) is a lot of pressure. “If we play tomorrow, we have to think about the pitching rotation because we have to play eight games in the next two weeks,” Lee said. In this case, Kwak-Bin won’t be able to pitch on the 22nd, so we have to think about who will fill that spot, and we’ll have to reorganize.”