Gamboa? This is my nail! KIA, Jung Hae-young's 3rd consecutive win despite failing to take the mound...Lotte escaped four consecutive losses

Aug 05, 2025

Gamboa? This is my nail! KIA, Jung Hae-young's 3rd consecutive win despite failing to take the mound...Lotte escaped four consecutive losses
KIA starter Nail is pitching hard in a game between KIA and Lotte at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on the 5th. Busan = Reporter's wook@sportschosun.com/2025.08.05/



Gamboa? This is my nail! KIA, Jung Hae-young's 3rd consecutive win despite failing to take the mound...Lotte escaped four consecutive losses
The game between KIA and Lotte at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on the 5th, and Kim Tae-gun, with no outs, hits a two-run timely hit in the top of the seventh inning and cheers. Busan = Reporter's wook@sportschosun.com/2025.08.05/
KIA Tigers secured 5th place while escaping from the swamp of 4 consecutive losses against Lotte Giants.

KIA won 2-0 in Game 13 of the season between Lotte and the team in the '2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League' held at Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 5th. KIA, ranked fifth, won three consecutive games, won 49 games, drew 47 losses, and Lotte, ranked third, ended its two-game winning streak and recorded 57 wins, 3 draws and 45 losses.

KIA ended its four-game losing streak against Lotte. KIA won four consecutive games from the game against Lotte in Gwangju on the 6th of last month to the game against Lotte in Busan on the 27th of last month. In particular, the loss of all three consecutive games against Lotte from the 25th to the 27th of last month led to the worst trend of seven consecutive losses in the second half, which was even more painful, but the victory on that day blew away the sadness.




For KIA, Park Chan-ho (striker), Kim Sun-bin (second baseman), Kim Do-young (third baseman), Choi Hyung-woo (designated hitter), Na Sung-bum (right fielder), Patrick Wisdom (first baseman), Oh Sun-woo (left fielder), Kim Tae-gun (possession), and Kim Ho-ryeong (middle fielder) started. The starting pitcher is James Nail.

Lotte faced off with Jang Doo-sung (center fielder), Ko Seung-min (first baseman), Son Ho-young (third baseman), Victor Reyes (left fielder), Yoon Dong-hee (right fielder), Jeon Joon-woo (designated hitter), Yoo Kang-nam (catcher), Park Seung-wook (striker), and Han Tae-yang (second baseman). The starting pitcher is Alec Gamboa.

It was a luxury pitching match between Nail and Gamboa. The two pitchers faced off tightly until the sixth inning without giving up a single run.




The winner of the ace match was Nail. In six innings, he pitched 94 pitches, two hits, two walks, and eight strikeouts, securing his sixth win (two losses) of the season. Swippers (28), two-seam fastballs (24), cutters (18), and fastballs (7) were mixed and thrown. On this day, the modified fastball worked better for Lotte's batters than the sweeper. The maximum speed of the two-seam fastball was 152km.

In six ⅔ innings, Gamboa pitched 107 pitches, four hits, two walks, seven strikeouts, and two runs, but took his third loss (7 wins) of the season because the batters were tied to Nail. He mixed sliders (17), changeups (10), and curves (1) as he pushed his fastball (79). The maximum fastball speed was 158km and the average speed was 154km. That's how good the fastball was, but he lost a point because the ball increased as he lost strength.

KIA played baseball by operating the must-win team from the seventh inning. Sung Young-tak (1 inning), Han Jae-seung (1 inning), and Jeon Sang-hyun (1 inning) continued to throw to keep the victory. Closer Jung Hae-young decided to rest on the day because he had symptoms of elbow muscle clumping while warming up for the mound. According to KIA officials, Jung Hae-young appealed that he could throw, but manager Lee Bum-ho dissuaded him. KIA's bullpen neatly maintained a two-run gap even in the absence of Jung Hae-young.




Gamboa? This is my nail! KIA, Jung Hae-young's 3rd consecutive win despite failing to take the mound...Lotte escaped four consecutive losses
KIA Sung Young-tak is pitching hard in a game between KIA and Lotte at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on the 5th. Busan = Reporter's wook@sportschosun.com/2025.08.05/
Gamboa? This is my nail! KIA, Jung Hae-young's 3rd consecutive win despite failing to take the mound...Lotte escaped four consecutive losses
KIA's Han Jae-seung is pitching hard in a game between KIA and Lotte at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on the 5th. Busan = Reporter's wook@sportschosun.com/2025.08.05/
After one out in the top of the first inning, Kim Sun-bin hit a double to the left, trying to lay the groundwork for the first run. The next batter is Kim Do-young, last year's MVP, who recovered from his hamstring injury in two months and is returning. Gamboa continued to beat Kim Do-young, who must have lost his sense of practice, with a fast ball reaching 158 kilometers per hour, striking out swinging. Even Choi Hyung-woo escaped the crisis of losing points by striking out swinging.

The same goes for nails. After one out in the bottom of the first inning, he allowed consecutive hits to Ko Seung-min and Son Ho-young, and gave up a walk to Reyes, putting him on the verge of loading the bases with one out. Nail overcame the first crisis by striking out Yoon Dong-hee with three pitches, and even Jeon Joon-woo handled it with a ground ball to the first base, blocking and roaring without allowing a run.

Nail waited for KIA's batting line to explode as she overcame the second crisis well in the bottom of the sixth inning. Ko Seung-min's walk and Son Ho-young's four pitches put him on the verge of first and second bases with no outs. Nail turned Reyes into a pitcher double play, changing the situation to third base with two outs. He then handled Yoon Dong-hee with a fly ball in left field, maintaining a 0-0 balance.

KIA scored the first run in the top of the seventh inning with difficulty. The leadoff hitter Na Sung-bum was replaced by Park Jung-woo when he picked up a walk and faced off. Wisdom hit an infield hit deep to the left of the shortstop to become first and second base with no outs. Oh Sun-woo then hit a ground ball in front of the pitcher, and Gamboa made an error that he couldn't catch while groping the ball twice, loading the bases with no outs. The fixer was Kim Tae-gun. He hit a timely two-run hit to take a 2-0 lead.

With Sung Young-tak in the seventh inning and Han Jae-seung in the eighth inning neatly blocking each inning, Jeon Sang-hyun took the mound in the ninth inning. Jeon Sang-hyun was hit by a double on the left field by Yoon Dong-hee after two outs, but Jeong-hoon grounded out to second base.
Gamboa? This is my nail! KIA, Jung Hae-young's 3rd consecutive win despite failing to take the mound...Lotte escaped four consecutive losses
Jeon Sang-hyun is pitching hard in a game between KIA and Lotte at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on the 5th. Busan = Reporter's wook@sportschosun.com/2025.08.05/
Gamboa? This is my nail! KIA, Jung Hae-young's 3rd consecutive win despite failing to take the mound...Lotte escaped four consecutive losses
The game between KIA and Lotte at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on the 5th, and Gamboa, with no outs and runners on the first and second bases in the top of the seventh inning, misses Oh Sun-woo's ground ball. Busan = Reporter's wook@sportschosun.com/2025.08.05/




This article was translated by Naver AI translator.