KIA Tigers Lee Woo-sung is considered one of the team’s key outfield resources. However, this does not mean that he can start every game. This means that there are many competitive outfielders on the team. Meanwhile, a golden opportunity came to Lee Woo-sung, and he wanted to somehow live up to the team’s expectations. But he met an unexpected end.
Lee Woo-sung started as the sixth hitter and right fielder in the 13th game of the season against the Doosan Bears in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League held at Gwangju-KIA Champions Field on the 15th. On this day, KIA had foreign hitter Socrates Brito standby on the bench to control his condition, and formed the outfield with left fielder Choi Hyeong-woo, center fielder Lee Chang-jin, and right fielder Lee Woo-sung.
In the bottom of the second inning, when the team was down 0-1, a scoring situation was established in front of Lee Woo-sung from the first at-bat. This was after leadoff hitter Choi Hyeong-woo hit a double and advanced to third base when follow-up hitter Kim Sunbin hit a pitcher’s grounder.
Lee Woo-sung boldly pulled Doosan starter Brandon Waddell’s first pitch fastball, and the batted ball rolled toward the third baseman. Third base runner Choi Hyeong-woo watched third baseman Heo Gyeong-min’s throw without stopping at a ball that looked like it would be an ordinary ground ball. However, Heo Gyeong-min’s throw, which threw the ball to first base, was wide of the mark.
At this time, third base runner Choi Hyeong-woo came home and scored the team’s first run. The problem was Lee Woo-seong. After confirming that the ball was missing, while running to second base, he collided heavily with first base umpire Na Gwang-nam, and fell down on the spot and was unable to get up. Since it was an ‘in play’ situation rather than a ‘ball dead’ situation, Doosan’s fielders continued to play, and second baseman Park Gye-beom tagged batter runner Woo-sung Lee, adding one out. The two teams traded scores and outs.카지노사이트
If Lee Woo-sung had not collided with the umpire, he could have aimed for second base, or if he had stopped at first base, he could have passed the opportunity to the follow-up batter, Hwang Dae-in, at first base with one out. However, due to an unexpected base hit, KIA had to be satisfied with a tie.
Lee Woo-sung, who was more disappointed about the situation at the time than anyone else, regained his pride with one home run. In the bottom of the 4th inning, when the team was trailing 1-2, leadoff hitter Na Seong-beom’s double, Choi Hyeong-woo’s walk, and Kim Sun-bin’s leadoff hit allowed three batters in a row to load the bases with no outs, and Woo-sung Lee hit Doosan starter Brandon Waddell’s 7th pitch with the ball count at 2-2. He hit a slider and fired a grand slam that went over the left wall. Lee Woo-sung hit his 7th home run of the season 27 days after the Daegu Samsung Lions game on the 19th of last month.
Lee Woo-sung, who was selected by Doosan with the 15th pick in the second round of the 2013 rookie draft, later went through the NC Dinos and wore the KIA uniform, but has never experienced a grand slam. It was a home run that was more special to him than ever before.
However, Lee Woo-sung was unable to score a hit with a fly ball to center field and a ball that hit his body in the mid to late game, and the team, which was unable to maintain the lead until the end, lost 6-8. It almost became Lee Woo-sung’s ‘game of life’, but it ended up being a ‘sad ending’.