San Diego Padres outfielder Kim Ha-seong returned from a minor injury to finish the first half of the season on a high note, recording a multi-hit game and playing well defensively.
Kim started at second base and batted leadoff against the New York Mets at Petco Park in San Diego, California, USA, on 10 October, going 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. His season batting average of .255 rose to .258.
In the midst of his recent hitting spree, Kim suffered an unexpected minor injury in a game on the 8th. Here’s what happened. In the seventh inning, Kim hit a long shot to left field and raced to third base on a bunt. He attempted a head-first slide, but third baseman Luis Guillermo pushed Kim’s foot out of the way and tagged him for the out.
After the out, Kim threw his hands up in the air in embarrassment, walked back to the dugout, and kicked a bucket of water. The call and the situation were unfair, but as he was kicking the bucket, he felt pain in his right toe and had it X-rayed. Luckily, nothing major was found, but the previous day (the 9th), Kim was unintentionally given a day off.
According to MLB.com, Kim said, “I feel responsible for my mistake. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen in the future.” He returned to the starting lineup on the 10th, the last game of the first half before the All-Star break. And he kept the momentum going.
In his first at-bat of the inning, Kim hit a foul grounder to the third baseman on a fastball from the Mets’ $43.33 million man, Max Scherzer. Brett Barty caught the ball and ruled it foul, a call that was not overturned after video review. With his luck on his side, Kim continued his at-bat and took advantage of Scherzer’s four-pitch low changeup for a single to left field.
San Diego opened the scoring in the first inning with a single by Kim and a double by Fernando Tatis Jr. to put runners on second and third, before Manny Machado took a five-pitch slider from Scherzer for a three-run shot over the left field fence, scoring Kim to give the Padres the lead.
The first run was a good one, but further runs were hard to come by. In his second at-bat with the bases loaded in the bottom of the second inning with a 3-0 lead, Kim fouled off a four-seam fastball in the middle of the 94.4-mph (152-kilometre) strike zone after a five-pitch battle with Schuerzer. Then, with two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning, he hit Scherzer’s third pitch, a low four-seam outside the zone, and was retired on a grounder to shortstop, ending a big-run opportunity.
However, Kim did make one good defensive play. In the top of the fifth inning, with San Diego up 3-0 and the bases loaded, the Mets’ Brandon Nimmo hit a ball towards second base. Kim sprinted to make the catch and then threw the ball to first baseman Jake Cronenwirth with a glove toss, making a solid defensive play for the final out.
It was a case of good defence followed by good hitting. With the score 6-0, Kim faced T.J. McFarland in his fourth at-bat with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the sixth inning and pulled a two-pitch sinker through the shortstop’s defence and over the left-field fence to complete his multi-hit game. This time, however, he was unable to follow up with a run-scoring hit.카지노
And once again, good defence came to the rescue. Trailing 6-2 in the top of the eighth, with runners on first and second, Pete Alonso hit a ball to shortstop Xander Bogaerts, who fielded it straight up. Ha-Sung Kim quickly backed up to second base and threw to Bogaerts to turn a double play to seal the win for San Diego on both sides of the ball.
San Diego made the final series of the first half a ‘winner’. San Diego jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning, with Machado blasting a three-run shot off Kim Ha-seong. The Dodgers went scoreless for a while, but in the bottom of the fifth inning, Machado again arched a three-run shot to extend the lead to 5-0, and added a run in the sixth.
The Mets closed the gap in the top of the eighth when Luis Guillermo doubled and Brandon Nimmo walked to put runners on first and second with Mark Canha hitting an RBI single. It didn’t matter, though. San Diego held on to the lead they had built early in the game and finished the first half with a second straight win, defeating the Mets 6-2.