Why did foreign hitter Yasiel Puig of the KBO's Kiwoom Heroes express his anger while holding a bat and staring at the mound?

On the 23rd, the Kiwoom Heroes faced the Doosan Bears in their fourth season matchup at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul in the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League.

Doosan's starting pitcher, Kim Yoo-seong, suffered from chronic control issues and unintentionally threw threatening pitches towards Kiwoom hitters from the beginning of the game. After allowing Puig to reach base with a hit by pitch in the bottom of the second inning with one out, he threw a 150km fastball on the sixth pitch of a full count to Im Ji-yeol, which went toward the batter's head and resulted in a walk, prompting Im Ji-yeol to raise two fingers toward Kim Yoo-seong in an unpleasant reaction. It appeared to be a gesture indicating that it was the second threatening pitch aimed at Puig.

Kiwoom's starter, Kim Yoon-ha, also hit Park Joon-young with a pitch during a crisis with one out and runners on second and third in the top of the fourth inning, and allowed a one-run infield grounder to Oh Myung-jin in the ensuing bases loaded threat.

The problematic situation occurred during the bottom of the fourth inning when Kiwoom was at bat. After lead-off hitter Ruben Cardines earned a walk against Doosan's starter Kim Yoo-seong, Choi Joo-hwan hit a go-ahead two-run homer. Puig then came to the plate, and when Kim Yoo-seong's first pitch, a 148km fastball, came toward his face, he dodged it and walked toward Kim Yoo-seong while holding his bat, expressing his anger. He had tolerated the previous hit by pitch but could not hold back against the threatening pitch.

Catcher Yang Eui-ji immediately stood in the way of Puig as he approached Kim Yoo-seong. However, at that moment, players from both benches rushed onto the field, leading to a bench-clearing brawl.

Fortunately, there was no collision. Both Puig and Kim Yoo-seong quickly calmed their excited emotions, and players from both teams returned to the dugouts, ending the bench-clearing brawl within a minute. Kim Yoo-seong received a warning regarding his pitch that appeared to be intentional and handed the mound over to Choi Joon-ho. Due to his control issues and being drawn into the bench-clearing incident, he was replaced early after three innings, allowing one hit, one home run, three walks, three strikeouts, and two earned runs.

The hit by pitches from both teams did not end there. In the bottom of the fourth with two outs and no runners on base, Doosan's Choi Joon-ho hit Kim Jae-hyeon with a pitch, and Lee Young-ha hit Ruben Cardines with a 153km fastball in the bottom of the seventh with two outs and a runner on first. Cardines appeared to be in significant pain as he was consoled by Yang Eui-ji. Lee Young-ha's pitch was also not intentional.

Doosan also had a hitter hit by a pitch in the top of the ninth. Lead-off hitter Yang Seok-hwan got hit by a 144km two-seam fastball from the new pitcher Park Joo-seong. Doosan capitalized on the opportunity and scored with a sacrifice fly from Kang Seung-ho after a single by Kim Jae-hwan with one out and runners on first and third, putting the final nail in the coffin.

There were a total of five hit by pitches in the game. Doosan's Kim Yoo-seong, Choi Joon-ho, and Lee Young-ha, and Kiwoom's Kim Yoon-ha and Park Joo-seong delivered the pitches. Doosan ended the chaos by thoroughly defeating Kiwoom 8-2, breaking a three-game losing streak and a three-game losing streak at Gocheok.

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