Kia Tigers crush four out of the park in 9-2 win over Kiwoom Heroes

The Kia Tigers are on their way toward the top three in the KBO on Wednesday, slugging four home runs in a dominant win over the Kiwoom Heroes.

The Tigers, now in fourth place, rolled to a 9-2 win over the Kiwoom Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul on Wednesday, extending their win streak to five games.

So far, Kia has racked up 27 wins and 22 losses, with a single tie game. Their winning percentage stands at 0.551, moving within one and a half games of the third-place KT Wiz.

The Heroes are on a four-game losing streak and became the first team in the league to reach 30 losses this season on Wednesday. The club has 20 wins and 30 losses, with one tie. Wednesday’s defeat foiled the club's chance to climb out of last place.

Kia seized control against foreign starting pitcher Raúl Alcántara as Tigers hitters Park Jae-hyun, Kim Do-yeong, Na Sung-bum and Han Jun-su each homered.

Starting off the rotation, Park crushed the ball over the fence in the first inning, with Kim adding another homer in the fourth and Na and Han going back-to-back in the eighth.

League home run leader Kim launched his 14th dinger of the season, widening the gap over second-place Sam Hilliard of the Wiz at 12.

Park’s blast was the first leadoff home run on the first pitch of a game by any batter in the KBO league this season, as well as the first of his career.

Na and Han then delivered consecutive solo homers in the eighth inning, when the Tigers had a narrow 2-1 lead, with Alcántara pulled after Han rounded the bases.

The Tigers piled on five more runs against the Heroes' bullpen.

Two walks on bases loaded stretched the lead before Na returned to the plate in the same inning and ripped a three-run double to put the game out of reach.

Tigers starting pitcher James Naile earned his second win of the season against four losses after allowing one run on six hits while striking out eight over seven innings in Wednesday’s game.

Elsewhere, the Samsung Lions held on to first place with a 4-1 win against the SSG Landers in Incheon. Lions starter Ariel Jurado has now earned three wins and one loss this season after giving up one run across seven innings in Wednesday’s match.

The Landers fell into an eight-game skid, slipping into seventh place, while the Doosan Bears clinched sixth.

The Bears snapped a four-game losing streak with a 5-0 victory over the Wiz at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in southern Seoul. Substitute foreign pitcher Wesley Benjamin shut down his former KBO club, throwing for seven scoreless innings.

The LG Twins defeated the Lotte Giants 8-6 in Busan and retained second place with a fourth straight win. The Giants have now lost three in a row. The Busan club’s manager, Kim Tae-hyoung, became the first KBO manager to be ejected this season after protesting a video review decision.

The NC Dinos rallied for a 6-4 comeback win over the Hanwha Eagles in Changwon, South Gyeongsang. Kwon Hui-dong played hero with a dramatic two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a tie at 4-4.

The Eagles, now in fifth place, saw their three-game winning streak come to an end despite earning a hit by every hitter — the club’s third such game this season and the league’s 11th overall this season.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

BY BAE YOUNG-EUN [[email protected]]