“Hong Chang-ki is…”If you play against us, I think you’re going to hit 10 percent. I can only see hits, hits, hits.”메이저놀이터
KT manager Lee Kang-chul did not hide his fear of Hong Chang-ki, even though he said he had achieved better-than-expected results with two wins and one loss in last week’s three consecutive games against LG in Jamsil ahead of the game against the LG Twins at kt Wiz Park in Suwon on the 30th.
After recording three hits, including two doubles, at the game on Sunday, Hong got on base 10 times in just three games, with two hits and two walks from three times at bat on Friday and three hits from six times at bat on Sunday. He had eight hits and two walks from 14 times at bat, and a batting average of 0.571 during the period, with an on-base percentage of 0.625.
Manager Lee Kang-chul said, “If you play with us, you’ll get five at-bats, but the sooner Hong Chang-ki comes back, the more we lose.”
In the game on Wednesday when the team moved to Suwon, KT lost to Hong again. Hong had one hit and one walk from four times at bat on Saturday. In terms of on-base percentage, his performance in the season was reduced to 0.400. However, Hong’s one hit completely changed the course of the game for LG.
When the game was tying 2-2, LG took the lead by allowing a big inning in the sixth inning. In the sixth inning alone, seven hits were recorded, and four hits were long balls. Starting with Moon Bo-kyung’s right-handed hit, Oh Ji-hwan’s double and Park Dong-won’s two-run double were followed. Kim Hyun-soo also hit a double to attract Park Dong-won. His four consecutive hits widened the score to 5-2.
However, LG cannot guarantee victory by banking on its three-point lead. LG aimed for additional points by operating on the second base with no outs. However, as Choi Won-young’s attempt to sacrifice bunt failed and pinch hitter Kim Bum-seok’s soaring ball became a fly ball to the left field, the team saw its outcount rise without success.
Here, Hong Chang-ki, who had a batting average of 0.491 against KT, displayed his natural enemy status by taking advantage of the scoring position with two outs. Hong made the score 6-2 with his heavy hit against Eom Sang-baek. LG was able to take advantage of its attack opportunity and added Austin Dean’s two-run double to the left-handed hit by Koo Bon-hyuk, who came out as a pinch hitter, to make an 8-2 run.
With this single hit, Hong finished his batting average at the KT match with 0.474 for this season. His on-base percentage is 0.603. Although Hong is not a batting average of 100%, as manager Lee Kang-chul said, it is true that Hong was the strongest against KT. KT was the only opponent with an on-base percentage of 0.500 or higher. In the match against KT, the proportion of long balls is also high, and the OPS stands at 1.182. The only flaw is that he stole the bases once by running four times.
Meanwhile, LG, which added Hong Chang-ki’s valuable hit and 14 hits in the third and seventh batting order, beat kt 11-7 to escape the losing streak.