Kiwoom Heroes have fallen into a six-game losing streak after a total collapse in the last half of the first half. The team has fallen to ninth place in the standings and shows no signs of rebounding.
Kiwoom lost 3-4 at home to the KT Wiz in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Wednesday.
With the loss, Kiwoom has now lost six games in a row since their victory over the NC Dinos on the 6th, and slipped to 9th place (38 wins, 2 draws, 45 losses).
This is a steep fall for a team that was in a tight mid-table race until the last five days, when they were one game behind the third-place Doosan Bears and half a game behind the fourth-place NC Dinos and Lotte Giants. A 180-degree turnaround in just one week.
The six-game losing streak started badly. On the 6th, Kiwoom suffered a 4-5 reverse against NC, who were in the midst of a five-game losing streak at the time.
Kiwoom took a 4-2 lead into the seventh inning and was on the verge of sweeping the three-game series against Gochuk. But in the eighth, Won Jong-hyun and Yang Hyun singled to tie the game, and in the 10th inning, Choi Jung-won, who had his only hit of the season, hit the winning run.
Kiermaier then found himself in a losing tunnel as his bat slumped and his mound fell apart at a moment’s notice.
During the six-game losing streak, Kiwoom ranks 10th in batting average (0.219), 10th in on-base percentage (0.274), 10th in slugging percentage (0.279), and 9th in ERA (6.06).
The offense hasn’t woken up even with key players Lee Jung-hoo and Kim Hye-sung hitting .300 and .346, respectively, and even with quality starts from foreign pitchers Ariel Furado and Ian McKinney, victory hasn’t been assured. Ace Ahn Woo-jin continued his excellent strikeout prowess, but has been giving up more runs lately.
Kiwoom’s downward spiral in the second half of the season is in stark contrast to last year, when they finished the first half in second place with 54 wins, 1 loss and 32 draws. They won 16 fewer games and lost 13 more. The team is no longer guaranteed a spot in the postseason, a goal it has held since 2018.
Kiwoom is determined to end the worst run of the season in the final game of the first half on April 13 and rebound in the second half. 토토사이트 The starting pitcher for the final game of the first half is McKinney, who has a 1.80 home ERA.