'Was it this stable?' Song Seong-moon, despite 3 at-bats with no hits, left a mark with his ironclad second base defense... San Diego suffers a 0-6 rout after '1-hit humiliation' [SD Review]

*This content was translated by AI.

'Was it this stable even in the KBO League?' Song Seong-moon (30, San Diego Padres), in his first year in Major League Baseball, left a deep impression with his ironclad second base defense despite a string of bad luck at the plate.

On the 9th (Korean time), Song Seong-moon started at the ninth spot in the batting order and at second base in the home game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Petco Park in San Diego, California, USA, during the 2026 Major League Baseball (MLB) regular season. He went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. As a result, Song's season statistics stand at a .222 batting average (9 at-bats, 2 hits), 2 RBIs, and an OPS (on-base plus slugging) of 0.555 across four games.

Expected to be an infield utility player, Song Seong-moon delivered several impressive defensive plays at second base on this day. In the bottom of the third inning, he cleanly fielded a ball that veered far to his left from Cesar Prieto and recorded an out on a ground ball. In the bottom of the fourth, he calmly handled a sharp line drive from Nolan Gorman, ending the inning.

His concentration held through the later stages of the game. In the bottom of the seventh with two outs and the bases loaded, he fielded a tricky bouncer from Mason Winn and threw to first base to prevent a run. In the bottom of the eighth with one out and a runner on third, he moved forward to cut off a ground ball from Victor Scott II and threw home to prevent a score.

However, despite these efforts, San Diego suffered a 0-6 rout. The reason was a lifeless offense that managed only one hit while St. Louis piled up 11 hits, both long and short.

Song Seong-moon also appeared to need more time to adjust at the plate. In the bottom of the third with no runners on base and two outs, he failed to handle Michael McGreevy's breaking ball and was out on a foul tip strikeout. With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, his bat again missed a low breaking ball outside the zone, and he eventually took another swing-and-miss strikeout against McGreevy's changeup, hanging his head.

Finally, in his last at-bat, he made contact. In the bottom of the eighth with two outs, Song Seong-moon fouled off a fastball from Gordon Grigsby, sending a hard ball toward the second base bag. However, St. Louis shortstop Winn covered second base, and the play resulted in a ground out.

San Diego starting pitcher Griffin Canning allowed seven hits and two walks over 4 1/3 innings, giving up six earned runs and suffering his first loss of the season. Japanese pitcher Yuki Matsui pitched 2 2/3 innings, allowing three hits and one walk while striking out two batters without allowing a run, but his strong performance was overshadowed by the team's one-hit offense.

St. Louis starting pitcher McGreevy pitched six innings, allowing one hit and two walks while striking out nine batters without allowing a run, securing his third win (two losses) of the season. Catcher Ivan Herrera went 4-for-5, Alex Bregman went 2-for-5, and Nathan Church went 2-for-4, leading the team to victory.

San Diego remains in second place in the National League West with a record of 22 wins and 16 losses, two games behind the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers (24 wins, 14 losses). St. Louis also holds second place in the National League Central with a record of 23 wins and 15 losses, 3.5 games behind the first-place Chicago Cubs.

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*This content was translated by AI.