Kia Tigers slugger Na Sung-beom (33) has broken out of his first slump since returning from injury. He’s activated his home run machine again.
Na Sung-bum started at third base and right field and went 3-for-4 with one home run, one RBI and two runs scored to lead his team to a 4-1 victory over the Lotte Giants of the 2023 KBO League on Monday at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field. KIA clinched the best-of-three series against Lotte with back-to-back wins after the first game of the weekend series.
The game was also a personal one for Na, who only made his first appearance with the first team on March 23 due to a left calf fascia injury, but he made up for his long layoff by batting .322 with six home runs and 13 RBIs in 13 games before the All-Star break. However, in his first five games of the second half of the season, from July 21 against the Doosan Bears to July 28, he batted just .118. He was 2-for-17 in 21 at-bats.
After hitting a home run in his fourth at-bat of the seventh inning against the KT Wiz on Sept. 9, Na didn’t hit for extra bases in 31 consecutive at-bats until his 1-3 at-bat against Lotte on Sept. 29. However, in the bottom of the fifth inning of the Lotte game on the 29th, he led off with a home run over the right field fence on a 142 km/h four-seam fastball (fastball) from opposing pitcher Shim Jae-min. He hit the pitch low and out of the strike zone with a strong torso rotation.
A long ball after eight games. It was the shot KIA had been waiting for. He had warmed up his bat with a single to right in the previous inning, and he drew his seventh arch of the season with a powerful swing. With the momentum going his way, in his fourth at-bat of the seventh inning, Na also hit a single to right field through a defensive shift, his first three-hit game in eight games.
KIA’s scoring has been up and down in the second half. They won 13-3 against the Changwon NC Dinos on April 26, but lost 0-4 in the very next game. The batting lineup went silent in the two games together, failing to score even three runs.
In the meantime, Choi Won-jun, Choi Hyung-woo, Lee Woo-seong, and Socrates Brito led the team’s offense with hot hitting on more than one occasion. The silent Na Sung-beom joined the ranks, overcoming his first slump.토토사이트
KIA rode a hot streak to the top of the standings after swapping out two foreign pitchers and acquiring catcher Kim Tae-gun in a trade. However, the bite was too much for them in the midst of a tight mid-table race, and their winning percentage remained just .500 in the second half. Seventh place. KT, NC, and the Hanwha Eagles were all on a roll. Even KIA, which had been struggling with offensive ups and downs, had something to smile about thanks to their resurgent bats.