KIA's 'first baseman starting lineup' changes again, manager says "(Byun) Woo-hyuk is good at first base defense"... Park Jae-hyun returns after one day of absence [Gwangju field]

*This content was translated by AI.

With Aderlin Rodriguez gone, the KIA Tigers have made another change at first base. Instead of Hwang Dae-in, who started at first base the previous day (13th), Byun Woo-hyuk, who has been guarding the hot corner, will take the first base mitt. Additionally, Park Jae-hyun has returned to the starting lineup after just one day.

KIA will play a 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League regular-season home game against the Doosan Bears at 5 p.m. on the 14th at Gwangju-KIA Champions Field.

The winner of today's game will be the one to take the winning series. Although KIA lost 2-4 to Doosan on the 12th, they secured a one-run victory 2-1 the previous day (13th), successfully ending their three-game losing streak. The current record stands at one win and one loss.

For today's game, KIA set its starting lineup in the following order: Park Jae-hyun (left field), Kim Ho-ryeong (center field), Kim Do-young (designated hitter), Na Sung-beom (right field), Kim Sun-bin (second base), Byun Woo-hyuk (first base), Kim Kyu-seong (shortstop), Kim Tae-gun (catcher), and Park Min (third base). Kim Tae-hyung is the starting pitcher.

Compared to the previous day, Kim Min-gyu, who batted leadoff, and Hwang Dae-in, who was used as the seventh batter and first baseman, were both removed from the starting lineup after just one day. Instead, Park Jae-hyun will bat leadoff, while Byun Woo-hyuk will guard first base and Park Min will guard third base. Kim Kyu-seong will play shortstop.

Starting pitcher Kim Tae-hyung has appeared in 10 games this season with a record of 1 win and 1 loss, an ERA of 5.17, 37 hits allowed (5 home runs), 18 walks, 19 strikeouts, and 23 runs allowed (18 earned runs) over a total of 31⅓ innings. His WHIP is 1.76, and his batting average against is 0.289. This is his first time facing Doosan this season.

Before today's game, KIA manager Lee Beom-ho said about Kim Tae-hyung, "It would be best if he can pitch five innings. If he struggles early on, all of the remaining bullpen pitchers, except for (Jung) Hae-young, can be used. We need to quickly get into a winning game. Doosan will also bring out their best pitcher, Kwak Bin. If the situation is even, we should quickly get ahead early on; if not, we will have to use Plan B. We plan to decide on the timing of bullpen usage while watching (Kim) Tae-hyung's pitching."

Regarding first base, he continued, "Today, we considered using (Kim) Kyu-seong at first base, but since there are many left-handed batters on the opposing team, I thought there might be more balls hit to first base. (Byun) Woo-hyuk is good at first base defense. He is also prepared for surprise bunts, and Woo-hyuk has played a lot at first base until now. So I thought he might be better than Kyu-seong, which is why I decided to use him at first base."

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*This content was translated by AI.