Won Tae-in who bought me eel, Kim Ji-chan who paid back the favor with Home Run

Kim Ji-chan (23) of the Samsung Lions played in the game against the Lotte Giants in the "2024 SOL Bank KBO League" held at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on Sunday local time, and garnered three hits, four RBIs and one run from three times at bat, as he hit a home run in the sixth inning. Amid Kim's stellar performance, Samsung defeated Lotte 8 to 1. Samsung, which has achieved three consecutive wins, one draw, and eight losses overall in this season.

Kim hit a three-run homer to bring the lead in the sixth inning. As a pinch hitter with runners at the first and second bases with one out, Kim hit a 141km home run by opponent team starter Na Kyun-an. With Kim's homeruns, Samsung scored back-to-back runs and maintained its lead until the end, continuing its winning streak.

After the game, Kim Ji-chan said, "After I hit the home run, other hitters played well. I feel better that my team won the game than I hit the home run. I stayed on the bench and went out, so I went to the batter's box thinking that I should not miss the fastball. This is why the timing was not late."

"After the hit, I ran to first base and thought to myself, 'Go over it, go over it'. I thought I might not be able to cross Sajik Stadium because the fence was high and ran. But the ball didn't come back to the ground. At that moment, I thought it was over," he said in a vivid description of the situation at the time when he hit the home run.

When he came in after hitting a home run, catcher Kang Min-ho was more than happy with Kim Ji-chan on his back. Kim Ji-chan said, "When I came into the home, I saw Kang Min-ho. Naturally, I was on my back. I'm not a batter who hits many home runs, but I felt even better because I hit a home run in such an important situation. I'm happy that the result came out as I thought before I entered the batter's box," he said, adding that he was even more happy to be congratulated by his teammates.

On the day, Kim was excluded from the starting lineup. It was not an injury. He hit a fence while playing defense in the match against KIA in Gwangju on Tuesday, but coach Park Jin-man did not include Kim in order to protect players. However, Kim played in the middle of the match and had three hits.

"I'm in a really good physical condition. I think the coaching staff took me out of the starting lineup out of protection. Still, I thought I could play at any time in the second half of the game, so I was preparing for it. I had no difficulty in preparing for the event as I was deployed as a substitute since I was a rookie. I remember when I went out as a substitute, my bat didn't rotate well. I went to the batter's box thinking, "I will not forget that feeling. This is why I got a good result."

Thanks to Kim Ji-chan's homer, ace Wontae-in also garnered his first win. Wontae-in is one of the fewest in scoring support. There were many days when he failed to secure victory despite quality start (pitching six innings of less than three earned runs). However, the game was different on that day. He became the winning pitcher amid massive support from batters.

Wontae-in played a significant role in Kim's performance. Wontae-in encouraged Kim by buying him eel on his rest day. "Wontae-in bought me eel. He jokingly told me to pay for my meal. When I came in after hitting a home run, I remembered the day I ate with Wontae-in. Wontae-in talked about eel in the dugout. It was fun," he said. "Batters always try to score a lot of points. It's not just the day when the ace pitcher comes out. I'm even more happy that the result came out on the day when Wontae-in threw."

Wontae-in also gave Kim Ji-chan a thumbs-up. "I didn't expect Kim Ji-chan to hit a home run, but I felt so good. I felt like I could win today," Wontae-in said with joy.

BY: 바카라사이트