‘Wins in 1851 days’ Just avoid Doosan in July, ‘transfer gun’ Park Jun-young hits 3 HRs & Choi Won-joon 2…Kiwoom falls to 7th place
The Doosan Bears continued their eight-game winning streak in July.
Doosan won 9-2 against the Kiwoom Heroes in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Jamsil Baseball Stadium on July 9. Doosan extended its winning streak to eight games and remained in third place with a season record of 41 wins, 36 losses and one draw, while sixth-place Kiwoom dropped to seventh place with a season record of 38 wins, 43 losses and two draws after losing four straight games.
The eight-game winning streak is the longest under Lee Seung-yup. Doosan’s last eight-game winning streak was from June 6, 2018, against Gochuk Nexen (now Kiwoom) to June 14, 2018, against Daejeon Hanwha, a span of 1851 days. Doosan won 10 straight games during that period until June 16 against Daejeon Hanwha. The 10-game winning streak is the longest in the club’s history.
Doosan head coach Lee Seung-yeop commented on the unbeaten streak in July, saying, “They were always good players. Their potential came out late. The players are the ones who play the game anyway. We waited a long time, but the players prepared well and didn’t give up. One win, one win, do your best, don’t get cocky, don’t sag when it’s bad, don’t get excited, just do what you’ve prepared, and you’ll have good results,” he said.
From the start, Doosan kept the momentum going. Before the game, head coach Hong Won-ki said, “I think the players are very conscious when they meet a team that is inferior to them. You only need to focus on what you can do according to the plan, but if you think about other things, the game goes wrong, as they say. I believe the players will get through it,” he said. Doosan made short work of Kiwoom starter Chung Chan-heon (6 runs, 5 earned, in 3⅔ innings) on the day. Doosan is now 8-3 against Kiwoom this season.메이저놀이터
Starting pitcher Choi Won-jun earned his second win in 54 days after his first win of the season on May 16 against Kiwoom in Gochuk. In five innings and 90 pitches, he allowed two runs on six hits (one home run) and two walks with four strikeouts. From the sixth inning on, Lee Young-ha (2 innings), Park Jung-soo (1 inning), and Choi Seung-yong (1 inning) secured the win.
At the plate, Park Jun-young stood out. He started at third base in the nine-hole and went 3-for-3 with one home run, one walk, and three RBIs. He hit a single, triple, and home run, falling one base short of the hit-for-the cycle. Jose Rojas and Yang also contributed two hits apiece to spark the offense.
It was Doosan who struck first. In the top of the first inning, Jung Soo-bin and Kim Jae-ho singled to put runners on first and third with no outs, and when Rojas grounded out to the second baseman, Jung scored to make it 1-0. In the bottom of the second, Yang Seok-hwan made it 2-0 with a home run to left field. It was Yang’s 13th home run of the season.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Bears scored four runs to take the lead for good. Back-to-back singles by Kang Seung-ho and Jang Seung-hyun put runners on first and third, and Park Joon-young hit a two-run triple to right-center field to make it 4-0. The next batter, Jung Soo-bin, reached on a throwing error by the second baseman, allowing Park to score from third to make it 5-0, and with two outs, Rojas singled to left to make it 6-0.
Choi Won-jun, who had pitched a scoreless inning, struggled in the top of the fifth. Two batters later, he gave up a solo home run to Song Sung-moon to make it 6-1. Back-to-back singles by Kim Hye-sung and Lee Jung-hoo put runners on first and third, and Kim Woong-bin singled to right to make it 6-2. Lee once again trusted Choi Won-jun to get the win, and he did, getting Lee Ji-young to fly out to center field.
Park Jun-young delivered another big hit in the bottom of the sixth inning. One out later, he blasted a solo shot to left field for his first home run with Doosan. Back-to-back singles by Jeong Soo-bin and Kim Jae-ho and a walk to Rojas loaded the bases with one out, and Yang Yang-ji hit a two-run double to left to seal the 9-2 victory.