On a slate dominated by runs fueled by leaky bullpens, the KBO kicked off its third week of games. Fans remain banned from attending Korean sporting events, but teams continue to find ways to fill the seats, some with less controversy than others:

At least this move by the SK Wyverns will not make anyone uneasy:

With runs come home runs making choosing starting pitchers a risky venture during Tuesday’s contests. Four of the ten teams recorded double digits in runs, and the NC Dinos escaped with another one run victory. Here’s the action worth noting in today’s Round Up. 

Starting Pitcher Spotlight

Kia’s Min-woo Lee won his second decision working six innings giving up four hits, two earned runs and three walks with six strikeouts. This marks his first quality outing of the season. 

William Cuevas finished allowing five hits, four earned runs and a walk while striking out seven in 6.1 innings. His first win this year looked nicer before his return to the mound in the seventh. Tiring in the top of the inning, Cuevas yielded a hit, hit a batter, recorded a strikeout, and then a run scoring single before being lifted. Both inherited runners came around to score with the Wiz bullpen ceding nine runs in the half-inning. Focus on Cuevas’ 16:5 K:BB with a 1.04 WHIP rather than his bloated ERA. 

Chang-gyu Lim moved to 2-0 on the season tossing six innings giving up seven hits, four earned runs, and a walk with six strikeouts. His ERA rose to 3.75 but he owns an enticing 13:1 K:BB with a 1.08 after two starts. 

Although the NC Dinos helped Mike Wright garner his second win, he issued as many walks (five) as strikeouts (five) yielding four hits but no earned runs over his five innings. Wright’s 1.69 ERA comes with a 16:8 K:BB and 1.31 WHIP. He needs to attack hitters more to depress traffic on the bases if he is to succeed the second time around the league. Dinos reliever Jong-hyun Won notched his KBO leading fifth save getting the last four outs of the game with two strikeouts while giving up one hit. 

Hitter Highlights

KT Wiz

One of the headliners of the DFS playbook, Baek-ho Kang went 3-for-4 with two runs, a double, tied for the league lead with his fifth home run, drove in three and walked in five plate appearances. Better yet, Kang’s gaining the nickname of “Korean Papi” at the tender age of 20 flourishing so far with a robust .367/.500/.833 slash line while hitting safely in each of his first 12 contests. Here’s the other notable hitters from the Wiz’s slate leading 13 run out-burst. 

  • Woo-jun Sim (SS) - Went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a walk. 
  • Min-hyeok Kim (OF) - Also tallied a 2-for-5 day with his second home run and drove in three. 
  • Jung-ho Jo (DH) - Finished with two hits in four at-bats with three runs and a walk. 
  • Mel Rojas Jr. (OF) - Scored three runs with a hit in three at-bats and a walk. 
  • Jae-Gyun Hwang (3B) - Racked up three hits in five at-bats with a run, double, triple and an RBI. He moved his average to .300 on the season in the process. 

Hanwha Eagles

  • Sung-yeol Lee (DH) - Hit his first home run of 2020 going 1-for-5 with two runs and two RBI. 
  • Hae-chang Lee (C) - Entered as a pinch hitter, Lee also blasted his first home run with three RBI, scored two runs and reached via a hit-by-pitch. 

Kiwoom Heroes

  • Jung-hoo Lee (OF) - Continuing to heat up, Lee went 3-for-4 with a run, double, two RBI and walked. He’s now slashing .404/.473/.766 this year. 
  • Dong-won Park (C) - Launched his third home run and drove in three on two hits over five at-bats. Park’s now hitting .297 with a .955 on-base plus slugging percentage. 

Kia Tigers

  • Sun-bin Kim (2B) - Sparked the Tigers offense from the leadoff spot going 4-for-5 with a run and two RBI. 
  • Preston Tucker (OF) - Racked up two more hits with two runs scored and a walk moving within .004 percentage points of Jose Miguel Fernandez for the KBO lead in batting average. Tucker’s slashing .449/.518/.878 with 43 total bases so far. 
  • Ji-wan Na (OF) - Went 2-for-3 with a run, his third home run, an RBI and walked. He’s now hitting .317/.391/.610 with a home run in two of his last three games while recording multiple in each of them. 
  • Seung-taek Han (C) - Recorded a 2-for-4 day with his first home run, a solo shot. 

LG Twins 

  • Chun-woong Lee (OF) - Tallied two hits in four at-bats with three runs, his first home run, two RBI and walked. 
  • Roberto Ramos (1B) - Still vastly underpriced in DFS, Ramos also moved into a tie for the league lead crushing his fifth home run among two hits with a double, three RBI and a walk. He’s now hitting .400/.500/.875 during his debut season in the KBO, not too shabby. 
  • Ji-hwan Oh (SS) - Joined the home run fray on Tuesday hitting his first of the year. 

Samsung Lions 

  • Ja-wook Koo (OF) - Not just a cool name, Koo went 2-for-4 with two runs, his first home run, a double and two RBI. Koo’s quietly hitting a cool .320.414/.560 for the struggling Lions. 
  • Min-ho Kang (C) - Kang racked up two hits in four at-bats with his first home run of the year driving in one. 

SK Wyverns

  • Kang-min Kim (OF) - Tallied two hits in five at-bats including his first home run of 2020 and drove in three. 

NC Dinos

  • Min-woo Park (2B) - Hitting atop the Dinos lineup, Park sets the table well. On Tuesday, he scored two runs with a double and walked twice. Park’s fourth in the KBO in batting average (.417) with six walks versus one strikeout through 54 plate appearances. He’s not struck out in 50 plate appearances and recorded 11 hits his last five contests. 
  • Sung-bum Na (OF) - Went 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI. 

While runs ruled the day on Tuesday, Wednesday’s match-ups could lean more towards the pitchers. Looking to bounce back, Doosan sends Chris Flexen versus NC Dinos “ace” Chang-mo Koo. Tyler Wilson (LG Twins) looks to build on his last outing with seven strikeouts in six innings. Also, can Drew Gagnon (Kia) overcome his early inning struggles to cash in on his strikeout potential and keep tabs on who Lotte sends to the mound?

Be sure to stay with Fantasy Alarm across all formats. James Grande will rock out the playbook for the KBO later today while Matt Selz and Dan Malin update the upcoming NASCAR race at Darlington on Wednesday. 

Statistical Credits:

myKBOstats.com
eng.koreabaseball.com