‘30,31 Doubles-Multiple RBIs’ Shining leadoff Kim Ha-Sung, but there was a ‘tee in the jade’
San Diego Padres’ Kim Ha-seong has surpassed the 30-steal plateau for the season. He is the first Korean major leaguer to do so.
Kim went 1-for-3 with a home run, a walk and two stolen bases against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park on April 4 (ET). Kim stole his 30th and 31st bases of the season in the first and fourth innings.
Starting at first base, Kim lined a single to right in the first inning. On a two-strike, unfavorable count against San Francisco starter Alex Cobb, he pushed a sinker 94.1 mph down the middle of the plate on a four-pitch at-bat, dropping it in front of the right-field fence.
Then, with Fernando Tatis Jr. at bat, he quickly cut off Cobb’s two-pitch 89-mph splitter and threw to second base for the out. San Francisco catcher Patrick Bailey wasn’t expecting it, and his throw to second sailed to the left of second baseman Eloy Estrada, who had come in to cover the base, and he couldn’t even make the tag.
Kim, however, was caught trying to steal third base on Tatis Jr.’s grounder to shortstop. San Francisco shortstop Brandon Crawford caught the ball and threw to third without delay. Normally, a second baseman has to wait for the opposing shortstop’s movements to break his start on a grounder to his right, but Kim ran straight to third base. An unfortunate double play.
Fortunately, San Diego answered with three runs in the bottom of the first on a Juan Soto homer to left-center and a timely double by Xander Bogaerts.
After being retired on a walk in the second inning, Kim stole second and third with two outs in the bottom of the fourth to make it 4-0. He stole second on a four-seam 98-mph fastball from right-hander Keaton Wynn. Bailey, the opposing catcher, didn’t even look at second base to check Tatis Jr.’s check swing.
However, Tatis Jr. hit a grounder to shortstop and Kim did not advance any further. In his final at-bat in the bottom of the seventh, Kim struck out swinging.
It was Kim’s fourth multi-steal game of the season and 25 days since he stole three bases against the Seattle Mariners on March 10. He became the first Korean player to reach 30 stolen bases, and with three more home runs, he will have a 20-homer, 30-steal season.
But more than the stolen bases, Kim’s first inning was a disappointment because he is San Diego’s inconsistent leadoff man. It’s clear that he needs to work on getting on base more. As of today, Kim is 11th in the NL with a .365 on-base percentage and fifth in stolen bases. His batting average is .275 (126-for-459), which ranks 19th. Leadoff is still a top offensive metric. However, the on-base percentage, which was up to .384 in mid-August, has dropped nearly two points.스포츠토토
Meanwhile, with the 4-0 victory, San Diego has won three straight games to improve to 65-73 and cut the NL wild-card lead to 5.5 games over the third-place Arizona Diamondbacks and San Francisco. San Diego has 24 games remaining. Fangraphs gives San Diego a 2.0 percent chance of making the playoffs.
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