LG Twins infielder Oh Ji-hwan came through in a big way in the clutch.
LG rode a four-RBI performance from Oh Ji-hwan to a 9-1 victory over the Keum Heroes of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Gocheok Sky Dome on Saturday. The victory snapped a three-game losing streak for LG, which had been swept in the NC from Feb. 2-4.
LG’s bats were led by Oh Ji-hwan, who went 4-for-4 with two doubles and four RBIs. In the top of the fourth inning, with runners on second and third, Oh hit a double to center field off Eric Yokishi for a 1-0 lead. He followed with a two-run double to left-center to put runners on second and third in the top of the fifth, completing his four-hit game.
In addition to Oh, Austin finished with four hits and three RBIs, and Moon went 3-for-4 with three RBIs to spark a sluggish LG batting lineup. With Kim Hyun-soo out of the starting lineup for the day due to his recent batting slump, Oh Ji-hwan, Moon Bo-kyung, and rookie catcher Kim Bum-seok, who picked up his first RBI in his debut, all had solid performances.
When interviewed after the game, Oh Oh-hwan said, “It was a tough week last week. We had a tough series against NC, which can be said to have been saved if we won 2-4, and the series itself was tough. Even though we were in the lead, the team’s mood suddenly went down. I told the players, ‘Let’s lighten up and have fun. Let’s smile,'” the captain revealed how he tried to calm the team down. 토토사이트
Oh, who was batting .189 in his last 10 games, said, “Sometimes it’s hard for a player to hear that you’re doing okay when you’re trying to help them. But it’s true that it’s not good, so I like (Park) Dong-won, (Hong) Chang-ki and (Moon) Sung-joo, so I talked to them a lot and asked them a lot. Dong Won said, ‘Don’t just hit a difficult course and hope it goes well, watch a lot of balls and hit them at the right time,’ and that helped.”
“RBIs are important, and I feel like I was comfortable in the game, and I was comfortable defensively because I was able to stop the chase and get to safety,” he said of his four RBIs. “In the fourth inning, (Moon) Bo-Kyung put a bunt down that wasn’t a bunt, and he said to me, ‘I’m sorry for the bomb,’ and I said, ‘I know it’s bad. I think he apologized because he knew I was bad. I replied, ‘I’m glad I got a hit,'” he said.
Moon laid down a sacrifice bunt with runners on first and second in the fourth inning, followed by an RBI double by Oh Ji-hwan. In the seventh inning, Moon’s double with runners on second and first put runners on second and third, allowing Oh to double.
“Last year, I hit a lot of home runs and it was good, so I thought I could just keep going, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it when I hurt my obliques early on, and I was glad that the team was still winning. In the summer, there’s always pressure on the seniors to perform. I thought we wanted to take care of it today as well,” he said.