‘5 consecutive wins → 4 consecutive wins → 2 consecutive losses’ Kiwoom, who lost 12 bloody battles, ‘longest foreign pitcher’ Yokishi’s shoulders are heavy

 Kiwoom Heroes suffered a fatal defeat by losing in a bloody battle that lasted until the 12th inning.

Kiwoom lost 5-9 after a close match against the Samsung Lions of the ‘2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League’ held at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 19th. The game was tight until the 12th inning, but collapsed by giving 4 runs only in the 12th inning. 

Kiwoom, who finished runner-up in the Korean Series last season, embarked on a massive reinforcement with the goal of winning the Korean Series last winter. Excluding Eric Yokishi, two foreign players (Ariel Furado and Edison Russell) were replaced and brought in, and Hyungjong Lee, Jonghyun Won, and Changmin Lim were recruited. 

Kiwoom, who started the season in a good mood with two consecutive wins, suffered five consecutive losses from the 6th to the 12th and fell to 8th place in the league. However, from the 13th to the 17th, they ran 4 consecutive wins and succeeded in jumping up to 4th place again. 

At the beginning of the season, Kiwoom, which was trying to gain an advantage in the top competition, was caught by Samsung. As they lost consecutively on the 18th and 19th, they fell into a two-game losing streak, and the ranking went down to 6th place. In particular, on the 19th, ace Ahn Woo-jin fought hard with 6 innings, 5 hits, 1 walk, 10 strikeouts and 2 runs, but as the bullpen collapsed, he lost after a bloody battle that lasted until the 12th inning. Even after consuming 7 reliever pitchers, including Kim Dong-hyuk, Kim Tae-hoon, Lim Chang-min, Kim Jae-woong, Ha Young-min, Lee Young-jun, and Kim Seong-jin, they gave up the game. 

In Kiwoom, who had a lot of bullpen consumption, the role of starting pitcher Eric Yokishi increased in the last game of the three home games. Yokishi, the longest serving foreign pitcher in his 5th year in the KBO League this year, is recording 1 win and 4.24 ERA in 3 games (17 innings) this season. Compared to his previous years, it was a bit disappointing, but against KIA on the 14th, he won 7 innings, 5 hits, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts and 2 runs. 

Yokishi’s opponent is formidable. Samsung’s 1st starter David Buchanan will face off against the starting lineup. Buchanan is recording an average ERA of 3.60 this season with 1 win and 1 loss in 3 games (20 innings). 

In an interview on the 16th, Lee Jung-hoo,토토사이트 a star of Kiwoom, said, “It’s really strange to say our team’s routine, but once every year at the beginning of the season, we lose 5 straight times. The only thing left to do now is go up. The strength of our team is that the atmosphere is the same whether we are on a winning streak or losing streak. In a way, it may be a disadvantage, but the team atmosphere does not go down well, and once the atmosphere is hot, it can go up at once because it is a young team.” In a situation where they are in a losing streak again after 4 consecutive wins, the key is not to lengthen the losing streak. Fans are very excited about whether Yokishi can become the number one contributor to ending the losing streak.