Heroes hold off Giants in KBO preseason

The Kiwoom Heroes may not be any pundit's pick to reach the postseason in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) this year, but they have compiled one of the best records in the exhibition campaign.

The Heroes defeated the Lotte Giants 4-3 at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul to improve to 5-3-1 (wins-losses-ties) for the preseason, while the Giants dropped to 2-3-2. The preseason will conclude Tuesday, and the regular season starts Saturday.

The Giants scored first in the top of the first inning on Victor Reyes' two-out single, before the Heroes responded in the bottom first with Choi Joo-hwan's sacrifice fly.

Heroes starter Kim Yun-ha, likely their No. 3 starter in the regular season, kept the Giants off the board over the next four frames.

The Heroes went ahead 2-1 in the bottom second, when Park Ju-hong led off with a solo home run off starter Park Se-woong. It was the Heroes' league-best 12th home run of the preseason.

Both teams stranded the bases loaded — the Heroes in the bottom third and the Giants in the top sixth — and then the Heroes added an insurance run with Kim Tae-jin's bloop single in the bottom sixth.

The Heroes loaded the bases again in the bottom seventh, and Choi cashed in a run with his second sacrifice fly of the game to put his team up 4-1.

The Giants made things more interesting in the top eighth, when Na Seung-yeup lined a two-out, two-run single to left to cut the Heroes' lead to 4-3. Reliever Kim Seon-gi struck out Yoon Dong-hee to prevent further damage, and the Heroes pitched around a two-out single in the bottom ninth for the narrow win.

Both starters were solid. Kim went five innings, allowing a run on four hits and a walk while striking out two. Kim offered three four-seam fastballs, 17 forkballs and 15 curveballs at the Giants, and 38 of his 64 pitches went for strikes.

Park scattered five hits across five frames, giving up two runs and striking out five. He mixed in sliders (28), four-seam fastballs (26), curveballs (11) and forkballs (nine), and threw 50 strikes out of 74.

Kim said after the game that he tried to diversify his repertoire with more breaking balls because this was his final tuneup before the regular season.

"I need to be sharper with my breaking pitches," Kim said. "After my outing ended, I threw some forkballs in the bullpen. Otherwise, I feel great physically. If I can maintain this level of focus, I should have a good season."

Heroes manager Hong Won-ki praised Kim for being aggressive.

"He attacked the strike zone really well," he said. "He is building up nicely for the regular season." (Yonhap)