Another day and another import hitter putting up a monster game. However, on Saturday Preston Tucker of the Kia Tigers stole the limelight from Jose Miguel Fernandez of Doosan. Tucker racked up three doubles plus this shot during a perfect day at the plate:
Preston Tucker with his 4th HR of 2020. He is now tied for the early league lead with Han Dong-min and Kim Jae-hwan. #KBO #KiaTigers pic.twitter.com/LCp0QadynP
— KBO Collections (@kbocollections) May 16, 2020
During the ESPN telecast of the Kia win, Tucker’s college coach referenced his former player’s flat swing for his success driving the ball to the opposite field and able to pull the ball for power as well. Tucker left the game after running the bases late in the game but Kia reported it being precautionary due to the lopsided score. Entering game play on Sunday, Tucker leads the KBO in RBI (19), on-base percentage (.543) and on-base plus slugging percentage (1.468) while ranking second in home runs.
In the standings, the NC Dinos won their ninth game of the season with a late inning comeback versus the SK Wyverns bullpen. Plus, the LG Twins swept a doubleheader from Kiwoom causing a ripple effect in the standings. While DFS players await word on Tucker being in the lineup Sunday, here’s the rest of the results from the KBO on Saturday.
Hitter HIghlights
Kia Tigers
Ji-wan Na (OF) - Went 2-for-4 with two runs, his second home run, drove in two runs and walked.
Yoon-ho Hwang (3B) - Tallied four hits in five at-bats with a run, a double and two RBI.
KT Wiz
Woo-jun Sim (SS) - Recorded two hits in five at-bats, scored a run, drove in a run and stole a base.
Min-hyeok Kim (OF) - Went 3-for-4 with two runs and a walk.
Baek-ko Kang (1B) - Racked up three hits including a double and a triple in four at-bats with two runs, an RBI along with a walk.
Mel Rojas Jr. (OF) - While most focus on Fernandez, Rojas Jr. moved into third in batting average (.465) in the KBO and second in hits (20) with another multiple hit game while driving in two during the Wiz’s romp over Samsung.
Jeong-dae Bae (C) - Turned in a strong day at the dish going 2-for-4 with three RBI and a stolen base.
Lotte Giants
Jung-woo Jeon (OF) - Racked up three hits in four at-bats with a run, a double, an RBI and a walk.
Ah-seop Son (OF) - Went 2-for-5 with a run and a double.
SK Wyverns
Dong-min Han (OF) - Launched his KBO leading fifth home run driving in one among his two hits and also walked pacing the Wyverns offense as usual. Take a look:
Han Dong-min with his 5th HR of the season. He's the early season leader. His career high was 41 in 2017 and that was good enough for 5th place. In 2017 the HR champ was his teammate Choi Jeong with 46. #KBO #SkWyverns pic.twitter.com/vS01Ygja3m
— KBO Collections (@kbocollections) May 16, 2020
Doosan Bears
Joo-hwan Choi (2B) - Hit his third home run driving in two during the Bears loss to Kia.
LG Twins
During the Twins sweep of a doubleheader at home, Ju-hyeon Jung led the way in Game 1:
Did Jung Ju-hyeon of the LG Twins just have the greatest inning in baseball history?
— Connor Newcomb (@ConnorNewcomb_) May 16, 2020
He makes two incredible run-saving plays in the field to hold onto a 1-0 lead, and then goes deep with a majestic bat flip to lead off the bottom of the inning. #LGTwins #KBO @MyKBO pic.twitter.com/hSCoWVMQrj
Looking past the hyperbole in the tweet, Jung made two nice plays and hit his second home run of the season for the Twins. Also of note:
Roberto Ramos (1B) - Lost his eight-game hit streak in Game 1 of the doubleheader but bounced back with his fourth home run in Game 2. Ramos finished 1-for-4 but reached base three times via two walks and a hit-by-pitch in the seven plate appearances.
Starting Pitcher Spotlight
Hyun-yon Yang won his second game of 2020 tossing six innings giving up six hits, two earned runs and two walks with seven strikeouts. This marks Yang’s second quality start in three turns so far.
A bounceback outing for Casey Kelly winning Game 1 of the doubleheader versus Kiwoom. Kelly tossed six shutout innings yielding three hits and two walks with five strikeouts en route to his first win of the season.
In a pitcher’s duel, NC Dinos starter Young-gyu Kim worked six innings allowing four hits, one earned run and striking out five. Tae-hoon Kim of the SK Wyverns suffered a no-decision when his bullpen lost a 1-0 lead. Kim recorded seven shutout innings giving up two hits and three walks with six strikeouts.
Lotte’s Kyung-eun Noh notched his first win allowing eight hits and one earned run over six innings with four strikeouts in Hanwha.
Fantasy Forward
Sunday’s slate features Drew Rucinski of the NC Dinos trying to help his franchise to their 10th win of 2020 on the road against the SK Wyverns. A tough match-up between Eric Jokisch (1-0, 0.82 ERA) faces LG Twins starter Woo-chan Cha (2-0, 3.75 ERA).
With MMA fights on tap Mike Alexander provides terrific coverage and a live NASCAR race (Matt Selz and Dan Malin) on Sunday, be sure to stay with Fantasy Alarm to remain ahead of the competition. Plus, if interested in Esports check out the great work by Sean Mitchell.
Statistical Credits
myKBOstats.com
Fangraphs.com
http://eng.koreabaseball.com/Stats/