The Pittsburgh Pirates’ Bae Ji-hwan didn’t lead the team to victory, but he did extend his hitting streak to 11 games. His stats are skyrocketing.
Bae started at second base and batted sixth in the lineup against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco, California, USA, on April 30 and went 1-for-4. His batting average remained at .275.
His recent performance has taken a turn for the worse. Bae is batting .480 (12-for-25) in his last nine games prior to the 30-day stretch. After hitting .235 in April, Bae is hitting .310 in May. The previous day (May 29), he had a multi-hit game in center field, including a tremendous defensive play to catch a ball that went over his head.
The good form against the Seattle Mariners carried over to the matchup against San Francisco. However, things didn’t start out so well. With the bases loaded and no outs in the top of the second inning, Bae took a two-seam 87 mph slider from San Francisco starter Anthony Desclafani, but fouled off a pitcher’s choice to end his first at-bat.
Bae faced Desclafani again in his second at-bat, leading off the top of the fifth inning with a 1-6 count. Bae took advantage of Desclafani’s early changeup. This time, however, he was unable to produce a hit for the second straight at-bat as he grounded out to the second baseman.
It was his third at-bat that broke the no-hit streak. Trailing 6-2 in the top of the seventh, Bae lined Desclafani’s 85.4 mph slider to center field with the bases loaded. The hit extended Bae’s hitting streak to 11 games, dating back to April 13 against the Baltimore Orioles.
Bae’s hit didn’t lead to a run as Connor Cho, who was on second base, was unable to reach home. But the hit put runners in scoring position with one out, and Pittsburgh tacked on another run to close the gap. In his final at-bat in the bottom of the ninth, he was retired on a grounder to first base to end the game 1-for-4.안전놀이터
The game ended in a complete game loss for Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh trailed San Francisco, 3-6, with the help of Bae Bae-hwan. But the bottom of the seventh inning was the problem. Pittsburgh gave up a whopping eight runs in the bottom of the seventh, and the game was completely in San Francisco’s favor. Zack Swinski hit his second home run of the day in the bottom of the ninth, but the Pirates were unable to overcome the deficit, falling 4-14 and dropping their third straight game.