‘Thank you, Flexen’ strikes out in three straight at-bats, Seol-um Kim Ha-seong pleased to meet ‘natural enemy’ after a long time
“Tsk, tsk, flexen.
Kim Ha-seong of the San Diego Padres of the Major League Baseball (MLB) added another hit the hard way. He got a hit in the U.S. against a pitcher he’s had a “nemesis” relationship with since his days in Korea.
Kim Ha-seong started at shortstop in the No. 7 spot in the lineup against the Seattle Mariners at Petco Park in San Diego, California, on April 8 (KST).
On this day, the San Diego team was playing well, but Kim was not. The Padres scored four straight runs in the second through fifth innings to take a commanding 8-0 lead into the fifth.
However, Kim did not contribute to the team’s offense at all. He only struck out three times in the fifth inning.
In the bottom of the second inning, with his team leading 1-0, Kim faced Kirby with runners on first and second and struck out swinging. In the bottom of the third inning, with the score 4-0 and Kim feeling more comfortable, he struck out Kirby again with runners on second and third.
The fifth inning was even better: With a 5-0 lead, Cronenwirth singled and Carpenter walked to load the bases. Bresch was hit by a pitch. With runners on second and third, Chungeum had a chance to score. However, Kim struck out on another wild pitch in a 2B2S situation.
At least he could smile for once. Kim came up to bat in the bottom of the seventh inning with his team leading 8-0. Coincidentally, Chris Flexen was on the mound for Seattle. Flexen is a former Doosan Bears pitcher who spent the 2020 season in a Doosan Bears uniform before being traded to Seattle and becoming part of the KBO’s reverse export myth. Recently, he’s been pitching out of the bullpen due to a lack of competition, and that’s when he ran into Kim Ha-seong, a former opponent from South Korea.
In the 2020 season, Kim had a strong showing against Flexen for the Kiwoom Heroes, going 2-for-3 with a double, home run, and two RBIs. On this day, he took Flexen’s first pitch and turned it into a single to break up a three-strikeout streak.토토사이트
Kim advanced to third on the next batter’s single and a wild pitch by Flexen, and scored the hard way on a grounder by Fernando Tatis Jr.
Kim, who was retired on an infield grounder in the bottom of the eighth, finished the game 1-for-5. His season batting average dropped from 2-for-4 to 2-for-6. San Diego held on to the early lead and went on to win 10-3.