Korea Professional Baseball KIA Tigers' Kim Do-hyun (25) achieved his fourth quality start of the season (6 innings, 3 earned runs or fewer) but failed to secure his second win of the season.

On the 6th, Kim Do-hyun started the game against the Kiwoom Heroes at Seoul's Gocheok Sky Dome, recording 6 innings, 4 hits, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts, and 3 earned runs.

After KIA took a 1-0 lead, Kim Do-hyun allowed lead-off hitters Song Seong-mun and Choi Joo-hwan to walk in the bottom of the first inning. He then got Ruben Cardenas to pop out to center, but the runners advanced. Yasiel Puig drove in a run with a groundout, and Kim Tae-jin hit a timely single, allowing a 1-2 lead. Oh Jun-seo handled a ground ball for the first out to prevent additional runs.

In the second inning, after KIA regained a 3-2 lead, Kim Do-hyun allowed a double to lead-off hitter Lee Hyung-jong but struck out Kim Dong-heon and got Lee Yong-kyu to ground out to first. After a walk to Song Seong-mun, he faced a two-out, runners on first and second situation but retired Choi Joo-hwan on a pop-up to right field to end the inning without conceding a run.

Having tidily retired the side in the third and fourth innings, Kim Do-hyun allowed a lead-off double to Lee Yong-kyu in the fifth. He struck out Song Seong-mun and Choi Joo-hwan, but gave up a timely single for an RBI to Cardenas, ultimately allowing a tie at 3-3. Puig was retired on a pop-out to center.

In the sixth inning, Kim Do-hyun returned to the mound and retired the side in order. Still tied in the seventh, he handed the mound over to Jeon Sang-hyun and concluded his appearance. He recorded 93 pitches, utilizing fastballs (32), changeups (20), curves (16), sliders (15), two-seam fastballs (9), and cutters (1). His fastball reached a maximum speed of 148 km/h. KIA pulled ahead with a go-ahead, game-winning single from Kim Gyu-seong in the eighth inning, winning 5-3 and marking their second consecutive victory.

Although he achieved a quality start, Kim Do-hyun did not become the winning pitcher. After the game, he noted, "I don't worry too much about becoming the winning pitcher. I just think that if I do my job, a good day will come. My main weapon is the curveball, and I was able to utilize it well in critical situations, which I’m very pleased with. I'm also glad that the results turned out well."

With only 1.99 walks per 9 innings this season, Kim Do-hyun gave up 2 walks in just the first inning of this game. "I don't think I adapted well to the mound," Kim Do-hyun said regretfully. "But honestly, I shouldn't make excuses. From now on, I will quickly adapt to reduce walks."

After allowing a tie in the fifth inning with two outs, Kim Do-hyun said, "It’s a bit disappointing. The batters gave us a lead of 3 runs, and I couldn't hold it, which must have drained the fielders’ energy. It's my fault," adding, "I have no regrets about wishing the points had come a little earlier. The fielders are still helping out very well. I'm satisfied with that. Today was a game in which I didn’t perform well."

On the 5th, Yang Hyun-jong achieved his first win of the season along with the second all-time career win of 180 in KBO League history against Kiwoom, saying, "I'm sorry I couldn't contribute, and I'm sorry to the other pitchers." In response to Yang Hyun-jong's comment, Kim Do-hyun said, "Honestly, he probably feels a burden. He is a veteran of our team and is in a position to lead. We want to help him a lot but feel sorry that we can't. I just think we need to help our senior a lot."

This season, Kim Do-hyun has recorded 1 win, 2 losses, and an earned run average of 3.10 over 7 games (40⅔ innings), and he stated, "I’m satisfied that I’ve reduced walks a lot this year. And a new goal has emerged. I really don’t want to come off the mound early, so I’m pitching with the goal of extending my innings as much as possible. I want to achieve 7 innings at least once this year."

[OSEN]