Kiwoom Heroes' Lee Yong-kyu (39) went 3-for-3 with five RBIs in his first game back from injury to lead the team to its second straight win. He showed his veteran class by filling the void left by the recent injury to Lee Joo-hyung, who had been the team's main gun.
Lee Yong-kyu was called up from the second team to the first team ahead of the team's game against Lotte at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Wednesday. Lee, who had been batting hot with a .483 average in seven games over the past 10 days, was diagnosed with a hamstring injury the day before and will be sidelined for at least two weeks. Lee Yong-kyu, who was not even on the opening day roster due to an injury sustained in spring training, stepped in as the No. 1 hitter in Lee's absence and went 3-for-3 with a double, a walk, a stolen base and three runs scored in all five of his plate appearances. Lee Yong-kyu led off the bottom of the first with a double to right field and came home on Choi Joo-hwan's RBI single to score the game's first run. Song Sung-moon followed with another RBI single to give Kiwoom a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth, Kiwoom outfielder Ronnie Dawson hit his fourth two-run homer of the season, and in the bottom of the fifth, Song Sung-moon and Joo Sung-won hit back-to-back singles and scored on a bases-loaded walk to extend the lead to 7-0.
Lotte rallied with four runs in the top of the seventh on an RBI single by Jeon Jun-woo, a push bunt and an error by Kiwoom catcher Kim Jae-hyun, but Kiwoom scored two more runs in the bottom of the inning on a push bunt and a sacrifice fly by Song Sung-moon after leadoff hitter Lee Yong-kyu singled again to make it 9-4.
Kiwoom starter Heisu threw six innings of one-hit ball with 10 strikeouts to earn his third win of the season, showing that he has fully adjusted to Korean baseball. The Kiwoom bats pounded 사설토토 out 15 hits on the day against Lotte, with Kim Hye-sung and Choi Ju-hwan going 2-for-4 and Song Sung-moon going 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Lotte lost its fourth straight game as starter Park Se-woong was tagged for seven runs in four innings and the bottom of the order struggled.
Elsewhere in Jamsil, 'Jamsil rivals' LG and Doosan met for the first time this season. After a back-and-forth pitching battle between LG starter Casey Kelly and Doosan starter Kwak Bin, LG's Koo Bon-hyuk came to the plate in the top of the seventh inning and delivered a thrilling game-winning hit to give LG a 2-1 victory. Kelly pitched seven innings, allowing one run on two hits and striking out eight to earn his first win in just his fourth start of the season.
In Suwon, KT rode a three-run homer by Kim Sang-soo to an 8-3 victory over SSG to snap a two-game losing streak. KT starter Benjamin pitched six innings, allowing two runs on four hits and striking out six to earn his first win of the season. SSG's Choi Jung-jeong hit his sixth solo home run of the season in his first at-bat of the day in the top of the first inning, giving him 464 career home runs, three shy of Lee Seung-yeop's career home run record of 467.
In Daegu, the NC defeated Samsung 8-3 to extend its winning streak to three games behind a strong pitching performance from Castano and two home runs from Park Gun-woo. Samsung's five-game winning streak was halted. In Daejeon, KIA beat Hanwha 8-4 to extend its winning streak to four games. The Daejeon Stadium sold out for the sixth consecutive game since the home opener and the seventh consecutive game since last year's final.
