Doosan beat the Samsung Lions 8-7 in Game 11 of the season in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the 8th. It continued its upward trend, which prevented the KIA Tigers from winning 10 consecutive games the previous day and won 3-0.
Doosan gained a lot from the victory. The game gap with sixth-ranked Doosan narrowed to two games as fifth-ranked KIA knelt down 2-12 to the leading LG Twins and fell to two consecutive losses.
Above all, what is encouraging is that Kim Jae-hwan's sense of hitting has begun to show signs of revival. Kim Jae-hwan started as the fifth batter and left fielder and played a decisive role in Doosan's victory by swinging hard with three hits and one RBI in four at-bats.
Kim Jae-hwan vigorously turned his bat in the bottom of the fourth inning with one out and runners on first and second base when Doosan was being dragged 0-2. A clean heavy hit brought the second baseman home and gave the team a valuable comeback RBI. Doosan tied the score 2-2, with Yang Seok-hwan hitting a timely RBI.
Kim Jae-hwan's performance continued. In his third at-bat in the bottom of the sixth inning, he recorded a multi-hit with another clean heavy hit. In his fourth at-bat in the bottom of the seventh inning, he also stepped on the first base with a hit in the right-center field.
It is the first time in three months that Kim Jae-hwan has recorded more than three hits in one game this season since the NC Dinos match on June 15. He cleared away his disappointment, which had been silent with no hits in the past two consecutive games, and fired a signal of his escape from the slump.
Kim Jae-hwan also did his part in his last at-bat. Doosan came out as the leadoff hitter in the bottom of the ninth inning, trailing 6-7, picked up a walk against Samsung pitcher Kim Tae-hoon and provided a golden opportunity to counterattack the team that was on the verge of defeat.
After Kim Jae-hwan's walk on base, Doosan threw a winning move by putting pinch hitter Kim Tae-geun. It then led to Lee Yoo-chan's sacrifice bunt and Kang Seung-ho's timely hit, putting the game back to square one.
Samsung's third baseman Ryu Ji-hyuk's mistake when pinch hitter Park Gye-beom hit an infield grounder in a continuous one-out, first and second base finish opportunity ended the bloody battle for more than four hours with a dramatic 8-7 victory. Kim Jae-hwan's three hits and one walk had a significant impact on the game.
Kim Jae-hwan is batting .225 (78 hits in 346 at-bats) in 108 games this season with nine home runs and 42 RBIs and 0.683 OPS. Considering Kim Jae-hwan's name value and career, it is unbelievable.
The pace is worse in the second half. In 31 games, the batting average is 0.188 (18 hits in 96 at-bats) with two home runs and 13 RBIs, and the sense of hitting is rarely rising. The firepower of Doosan's batters was also bound to weaken.
In the case of the match against KIA on the 7th, when Doosan lost two consecutive games, Kim Jae-hwan was excluded from the starting lineup at all and remained on the bench until the end of the game. It was a strategic decision by the coaching staff considering that the opposing starting pitcher was left-hander Yang Hyun-jong, but it is not a good signal in many ways that the team's leading hitter is losing in a row.
Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop said, "First of all, I'm giving Kim Jae-hwan a steady trust. Kim Jae-hwan is training so faithfully that he knows better than anyone else that he is trying to escape the slump, so he is looking forward to a rebound. Only when Kim Jae-hwan comes back to life, Doosan is in a position to get closer to autumn baseball.
Coach Lee Seung-yeop said before the match against KIA on the 7th, "Kim Jae-hwan's slump is getting longer, but he is waiting to find his original appearance," adding, "The team is frustrated, but he will be more frustrated." I'm training a lot before and after the game with my batting coach every day. He also sent a message, saying, "I will help you recover your sense of hitting quickly."
If Kim Jae-hwan's unique cheerful batting and long-hitting production revive in the remaining games of the second half, Doosan's battle for the semifinals could also be greatly boosted. Kim Jae-hwan's performance is more urgent than any other player in Doosan's remaining 30 games in the regular league.