The silence of the previous day (25th) was only temporary. Kim Ha-seong, who hasn’t been hitting well lately, demonstrated his power by hitting his eighth home run of the season. The only disappointment was that it didn’t lead to a team victory.
Kim started at second base and batted first in the lineup against the Washington Nationals at Petco Park in San Diego, California, U.S., on June 26 (KST) and went 1-for-3 with a home run, one RBI, one run scored, and two walks.먹튀검증
Starting against the Cleveland Indians on the 16th and ending against Washington on the 24th, Kim had hit safely in eight consecutive games, raising his batting average to .254 after dropping to .228 in June. The flow was interrupted the day before (25th) when he went hitless, but he hit his eighth arching home run of the season. His season batting average increased slightly from 0.250 to 0.251.
The unfavorable trend of the previous day’s no-hitter continued early in the game. Trailing 0-1 in the top of the first inning, Kim faced Mackenzie Gore, whom he had a one-hitter with last year, and after a five-pitch at-bat, struck out swinging on a four-seam fastball in the middle of the 95.1-mph (153.1-kilometer) strike zone. In his second at-bat, he was silenced by a grounder to shortstop.
There were other disappointments on defense. In the top of the fourth inning, Washington’s Joey Meneses hit a ball high into foul territory behind the first baseman. As the San Diego infielders began to converge in pursuit of the ball, it was up to Kim to handle it. However, Kim made a mistake in catching Meneses’ pitch and letting it go, making it a foul ball. It wasn’t an easy pitch to handle, but he was fortunate that it landed in fair territory and didn’t turn into a run or a crisis situation.
After his silence, Kim Hae-seong was able to fulfill his role as the “link” for once. In the bottom of the fifth inning, down 0-1 and with runners on second and third in scoring position, Kim once again had the opportunity to face Gore. Gore, who had pitched solidly all game, began to falter, and Kim calmly drew a walk to set up Fernando Tatis Jr. Tatis Jr. hit a game-tying RBI single to put San Diego back in front.
Kim’s silence would not last long, however. In the bottom of the seventh inning, down 1-8 and trailing 8-1, Kim swung hard at a 97 mph (156.1 km/h) four-seam fastball in the middle of the strike zone from reliever Jordan Weems, and the 104.6 mph (168.3 km/h) pitch stretched out to the plate, traveling 380 feet (115.9 meters) before clearing the left field fence for his eighth home run of the season. Three homers in his last four games.
After coming up big in his previous at-bat, Kim completed his “three-hit” game with another walk in his final at-bat in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded and one out. Kim then took third base on Juan Soto’s single, but no further damage was done.
San Diego concluded its three-game weekend series with Washington in a “roughed-up series. The game was back-and-forth until the middle innings. The Nats struck first. The Nats took the lead in the first inning when Jamie Candelario hit a leadoff solo home run with the bases loaded. Unable to capitalize against the Nats’ mound, San Diego tied the game in the fifth inning when Kim Ha-Sung drew a bases-loaded walk.
But the pendulum swung decidedly in Washington’s favor in the sixth. The Nats got back-to-back singles from Luis Garcia-Candelario-Menezes and a sacrifice fly from Stone Garrett to cut the deficit to 1-3 in the sixth. San Diego had the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth with singles by Manny Machado, Jake Cronenworth, and Matt Carpenter, but the “fixer” never came.
The Nats capitalized again in the seventh when Derek Hill reached on an error, CJ Abrams was hit by a pitch, and Lane Thomas, Candelario, and Meneses drove in runs to extend the lead to 8-1. It was too much for San Diego’s unfocused defense and late mound work to overcome. San Diego rallied in the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run by Kim Ha-seong and a run in the bottom of the ninth, but they were unable to overcome the deficit and fell to 3-8.