After struggling at the plate for a while, Ha-Sung Kim (28, San Diego Padres) has come alive with back-to-back multi-hit games. However, the team suffered a second straight shocking loss.
Kim went 2-for-4 with a double, a home run, an RBI, and a run scored in the Padres’ first game of the 2023 Major League Baseball (MLB) season against the St. Louis Cardinals on Aug. 31 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. His batting average increased from 0.276 to 0.278 on the season. His OPS also increased slightly, from .808 to .809.
Kim, whose batting average dropped to .189 with a .708 OPS in a 10-game stretch beginning on April 19 against Arizona, went 2-for-3 with a double and a walk on April 30 against St. Louis. He followed that up with two hits in back-to-back days to regain his pace. This is the first time since the last five days (three games in a row) that he has had more than two consecutive multi-hit games.
Starting lineups for San Diego at St. Louis on Aug. 31
San Diego: Ha-Sung Kim (second base)-Juan Soto (left field)-Manny Machado (third base)-Fernando Tatis Jr. (right field)-Zander Bogaerts (shortstop)-Garrett Cooper (first base)-Matt Carpenter (designated hitter)-Luis Camposano (catcher)-Trent Grisham (center field). Starting pitcher is Rich Hill.
St. Louis: Tommy Edmon (center field)-Paul Goldschmidt (first base)-Wilson Contreras (designated hitter)-Nolan Arenado (third base)-Jordan Walker (right field)-Andrew Kiesner (catcher)-Taylor Motter (second base)-Rich Palacios (left field)-Maysin Wynn (shortstop). The starting pitcher is Miles Michaelis.
He exploded for hits in his first at-bat and scored the go-ahead run.
Kim’s bat danced from his first at-bat. Stepping to the plate in the top of the first inning, he took advantage of a two-pitch two-seam fastball from St. Louis starter Michaels and lined it to center field for a single. He took second on an unexpected sacrifice bunt by the next batter, Soto.
After moving into scoring position, Kim came home on a single to center field by Machado in the third inning. Kim’s hit gave the Padres the lead for good. San Diego didn’t stop there, as Tatis drew a walk to put runners on first and second again. If they stayed focused, they could score a big run.
However, San Diego’s first inning ended with a single run. Bogart hit a grounder to the third baseman. Arenado, a good defensive third baseman, took the base and made a strong throw to first to end the rally. A wild pitch ended the San Diego offense.
A multi-hit game in just two innings, and it looked like a win…
San Diego struck again in the top of the second inning. A walk to Carpenter and a single to Camposano put runners on first and second with one out. Grisham hit a line drive into the gap in left field for the second out, but San Diego had Ha-Sung Kim at the plate.
Kim stepped up to the plate for the second time, this time looking for a first-pitch curveball. It was a bit of a miss, but it landed in front of the left-field fence. Carpenter came home from second to give San Diego a 2-0 lead.
San Diego followed with a single to right field from Soto, scoring Camposano. With a 3-0 lead in the second inning, the Padres looked to be on their way to victory.
‘Kim goes silent in the second half’ San Diego ties in the 4th, takes the lead in the 7th, and loses in the 9th
Kim was unable to get on base in his third at-bat. In the fifth inning, he took five pitches but flied out to left field. Then, in the seventh inning, he was stranded on second base with one out when he grounded out in front of the third baseman.
Meanwhile, San Diego had its ups and downs. Hill, who had pitched a scoreless third inning, gave up back-to-back singles in the fourth, followed by Walker’s three-run homer to left that quickly tied the game at 3-3. After removing Hill after four innings, San Diego held the opposing offense scoreless through the next eight innings.
They regained the lead later in the game. After Kim grounded out to third in the top of the seventh, Soto singled up the middle to load the bases. San Diego regained the lead at 4-3 and brought in closer Josh Hader in the bottom of the ninth to try to seal the win.먹튀검증
But Hayder, who had given up the game-winning hit to Edmon in extra innings in the previous game, found himself facing Edmon again. With two outs, Haider gave up a double to Wynn. Edmon then took an outside fastball from Heider for a two-run home run over the right-center field wall. For Kim, it was another loss for his World Baseball Classic (WBC) teammate.
The 4-5 loss was San Diego’s second straight. With a season winning percentage of .463 (62-72), the Padres are eight games behind San Francisco for the third wild card in the National League, and their fall baseball dreams are slipping further and further away.