‘Explosive speed’ + ‘fantastic lake rain’… The team loses 5-6 in extra innings.
Even a customized helmet was no match for the speed of Ha-Sung Kim (28, San Diego Padres). Kim’s explosive baserunning play took off his new helmet. He did his part with a multi-hit game, a triple, and an RBI, but his team suffered another upset.
Kim went 2-for-3 with a double, a home run, an RBI, and a walk in the leadoff spot against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, on Tuesday.
His season batting average rose from .274 to .276 (121-for-438). His on-base percentage and slugging percentage also increased from 0.367 and 0.437 to 0.369 and 0.438, respectively. His OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) was 0.807.
San Diego’s starting lineup was Ha-Sung Kim (second base), Juan Soto (left field), Manny Machado (designated hitter), Fernando Tatis Jr. (right field), Zander Bogaerts (shortstop), Garrett Cooper (first base), Luis Camposano (catcher), Matthew Barton (third base), and Jose Azocar (center field). The starting pitcher is Seth Lugo.
For St. Louis, the batting order is Rich Palacios (center field)-Paul Goldschmidt (first base)-Nolan Gorman (second base)-Nolan Arenado (third base)-Wilson Contreras (catcher)-Alex Burrellson (designated hitter)-Tyler O’Neill (left field)-Jordan Walker (right field)-Maysin Wynn (shortstop). Zach Thompson was the starting pitcher.
Kim Ha-seong’s pause is over, and he can’t do better than this: multi-hit, three RBI, and a catcher’s mitt.
After going hitless for three games in a row, Kim Ha-seong returned to form with a multi-hit day.
In the top of the first inning, Kim hit a clean single to left field that split the third base line. He reached base for the 11th straight game, pulling a 93.7 mph (150.8 km/h) four-seam fastball on the body side and driving it 101.2 mph (162.9 km/h) for a hit.
Kim stole second on Soto’s bunt and Song was thrown out at first to put runners on second and third. Despite wearing a customized helmet, Kim’s helmet came off in the sprint. He then scored the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly to right field by Tatis Jr.
In the top of the third, Kim led off with a walk, but was stranded on third base. In the top of the fourth inning, with his team leading 3-1, Kim batted with one out and two pitches in a 1-2 count, and he worked around a six-pitch, 85.7-mile-per-hour (137.9-kilometer-per-hour) cut fastball.
In the top of the sixth inning with his team leading 4-2 and runners on first and second, Kim fouled off two sinkers on a foul 2-2 pitch against reliever Lawrence and lined an 89.9-mph (144.7-kilometer) sinker high on the body of an 8-pitch for an exquisite infield hit. It was his 18th three-hit game of the season. It was his first multi-hit game (two or more hits in a game) in seven games since April 24 against the Miami Marlins.
With runners on first and third in the top of the eighth inning and his team trailing 4-3, Kim crushed an 89.6-mph (144.2-kilometer) sinker into the left-field seats to drive in a run and put runners on first and third. It was his 50th RBI of the season, marking the second straight year he has reached 50 RBI. Last year she had 59 RBIs.
He also made a spectacular play on defense. In the bottom of the first inning, Kim made a backhanded catch of a hit that was deflected toward second base by the leadoff hitter and then made a strong throw in reverse motion to throw out Palacios at the plate.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, with the game tied 5-5, there was a strange grounder to second base. With the first baseman out of the way, Kim had to wait for pitcher Nick Martinez to drop into coverage. Martinez quickly ran to first base, and Kim made a timely throw to first to throw out the runner at first and send the game to extra innings.
Lugo pitches well, bullpen falls apart again… Fall dreams slip away
Lugo did his job as a starter. He threw 88 pitches in six innings, allowing six hits (one home run), one walk, six strikeouts, and three runs (two earned) in a quality start (six or more innings pitched, no more than three earned runs).
However, Lugo’s post-game performance was disappointing. Kim Ha-seong’s sacrifice fly in the eighth inning made it 5-3, but the bullpen couldn’t hold on.
Robert Suarez, who took the mound after Scott Barlow in the seventh, led off with a single to right off Goldschmidt, struck out Gorman, got Arenado to ground out to second, and gave up a game-tying two-run shot (No. 15) to Contreras over the center field wall.
In the top of the 10th inning, San Diego started with Bogart at second base, but Cooper and Camposano retired the side on back-to-back singles and Barton followed with an infield hit, but Grisham was retired on a pitcher’s pop fly to end the inning.
San Diego brought on Josh Harder for Nick Martinez in the bottom of the 10th. A sacrifice bunt by Palacios loaded the bases and Harder tried to turn a double play by sending a high four-seamer to the plate, but a 96 mph (154.5 km/h) sinker to the side of the body from Tommy Hyun-Soo Edmon ended the game.
San Diego remained in fourth place in the National League (NL) West with a 62-71 record. They are 7.5 games behind the third-place Arizona Diamondbacks in the wild-card race, and their fall baseball hopes are fading.
Even St. Louis, which snapped a four-game losing streak, couldn’t move out of last place in the NL Central with a 57-76 record.