“Be aggressive, be aggressive”.
Kia Tigers manager Kim Jong-kook made a special request to closer Jung Hae-young (21). He told him to be aggressive and aggressive, not to struggle with his fastball.
In the top of the ninth inning of the Gwangju game against the KT Wiz on April 22, with a 2-1 lead, Jung came on to save the day. The first batter, Choi Soo-ho, hit a single to left-center. He then gave up a single to Lee Ho-yeon in left-center, putting runners on first and second with no outs.
He got Ahn Chi-young to fly out to left field and induced Hwang Jae-gyun to ground out to second. Alford walked to load the bases with two outs, but he got the tricky Park Byung-ho to fly out to left field on five pitches.
The count was 3-0, but he fired two straight pitches to get the final out. Left fielder Lee Chang-jin sprinted to make the catch. Lee earned his 16th save of the season and 83rd of his career to end his team’s seven-game losing streak. Manager Kim Jong-kook also breathed a sigh of relief after preserving the one-run lead.
Looking ahead to the 11th game against KT on the 23rd, Kim said, “It was still better than the previous game against Doosan (Gwangju on the 15th), where I gave up two runs on one hit and three walks. I hadn’t pitched in a long time, so my power dropped. You have to go head-to-head when you have the strength. I’m throwing a lot of pitches, but my power is down and there’s a high probability of getting a long hit.”
Before the game, Kim called Jung Hae-young to talk to him. “I told her to be active and aggressive, not to play hardball,” Kim said, “Yesterday was difficult, but she did well. Now that we’ve gotten the save, I hope we can be more aggressive and confident.”스포츠토토
The KIA starting lineup is Lee Chang-jin (left fielder), Kim Do-young (third baseman), Kim Sun-bin (second baseman), Choi Hyung-woo (designated hitter), Socrates (center fielder), Lee Woo-sung (right fielder), Han Jun-soo (catcher), Oh Sun-woo (first baseman), and Kim Kyu-sung (shortstop).