Kim Do Young's first home run of the season exploded! Instead of criticizing, he responded to the belief of the head coach, "How can I always play well?" [the scene of Jamsil]

*This content was translated by AI.

The head coach never criticized Kim Do-young (23) for turning the bat on a bad ball, but rather encouraged him warmly. And Kim Do-young rewarded with his first home run of the season.

"Flower manager" Lee Bum-ho, KIA manager, met with reporters ahead of the away game of the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League regular season against the LG Twins at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on the 31st and talked about Kim Do-young's strikeout situation in the SSG Landers match held at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 29th.

The situation at the time occurred at the beginning of the third inning. With KIA trailing 0-4, it took the opportunity to load the bases with one out. At this time, Kim Do-young entered the batter's box. The opponent's starting pitcher is Kim Gun-woo. Kim Do-young had an advantageous 3-1 ball count. Here, however, Kim Do-young struck out with a false bat on the ball that entered the high course twice.

Coach Lee asked back, "How can Kim Do-young always play well?" and said, "It is natural as a batter to want to hit a shot in a full base situation. The ball would have looked like a strike to Kim Do-young. There are days like that. It's just that my team wasn't lucky. In the meantime, I think it is a process of growing and studying. If I couldn't see it with a ball, I wouldn't have hit it, but I threw the bat because it looked like a strike," he said, sending a message of encouragement rather than criticism.

Since then, Kim Do-young has shown off his prowess in the match against LG. In the top of the first inning, he hit a timely hit to the right-center with one out and a runner on second base. In the second inning, he drew a two-run arch with a driving distance of 125 meters over the left fence with two outs and a runner on second base. It was Kim Do-young's first home run of the season.

In addition, regarding Lee Eui-ri, who started on the same day, he said, "I lost a point, but the ball itself was good. The batters (opponents) hit it well, not the objection. The tension must have been high because it was his first appearance of the season. He also gave trust, saying, "I will show better performance in my next appearance."

However, he expressed regret that the mound was shaken and the number of wins could not be accumulated at a time when hitters' sense of hitting came up. Manager Lee said, "I was rather worried about the batters, but they are doing better than I thought. It's still early in the season. I believe (the pitchers) will get better as the season progresses," he said, expressing expectations.

Meanwhile, KIA set up its starting lineup in the order of Kim Ho-ryeong (center fielder), Castro (left fielder), Kim Do-young (third baseman), Na Sung-bum (designated hitter), Kim Sun-bin (second baseman), Oh Sun-woo (right fielder), Yoon Do-hyun (first baseman), Han Jun-su (catcher), and Gerid Dale (striker). The starting pitcher is Adam Oler.

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*This content was translated by AI.