Doyoung Falls Short of Youngest 40-Home Run Record, but Shines with 4 Hits

[Anchor]

KIA Tigers professional baseball player Kim Doyoung led his team to victory with his second four-hit game of the season. He narrowly fell short of achieving the much-anticipated record for the youngest player to hit 40 home runs in a single season.

Reporter Bae Jeonghun has the story.

[Reporter]

After hitting his 39th home run on August 26, Kim Doyoung struggled in his following five games, recording just two hits in 14 at-bats.

However, he was on fire yesterday (the 6th), which marked the final day he could attempt to break the record for the youngest player to reach 40 home runs in a season.

After picking up hits in his first three plate appearances followed by an intentional walk, he reached base in his final at-bat in the 8th inning with a batted ball that struck the pitcher, completing his second four-hit game of the season.

Although he ultimately failed to achieve the milestone, Kim's stellar performance of four hits and three runs helped the fourth-place KIA defeat KT 8 to 3 to claim their third consecutive win, narrowing the gap with the third-place LG Twins to half a game.

League-leading Samsung secured a comeback victory against LG for the second consecutive day.

Trailing 4 to 2 in the 5th inning, Kim Ji-chan sparked an opportunity with no outs and runners on second and third by capitalizing on an opponent's error with a surprise bunt. Koo Ja-wook and Diaz then drove in timely hits to complete the comeback.

With Kim Young-woong adding a sealing home run, Samsung cruised to a 10 to 4 victory to maintain a game-and-a-half lead at the top of the standings.

Doosan battered the SSG pitching staff behind home runs from Yang Seok-hwan and Kang Seung-ho to snap a five-game losing streak with a 16 to 9 victory. Meanwhile, Hanwha extended its winning streak to three games by defeating Lotte 8 to 2, fueled by Roh Si-hwan's opening solo home run and back-to-back shots from Moon Hyun-bin and Kang Baek-ho.

Kiwoom secured a 4 to 2 win behind Alcantara's stellar pitching of two runs over 7 innings, halting NC's bid for an eighth consecutive victory.

(Video Editing: Hwang Ji-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.