KIA gets stronger! Finally registered in the 1st division roster, the KBO's first protagonist makes a 'career-first' leadoff start... Manager: "It hasn't been 24 hours yet" [Gwangju on-site]

*This content was translated by AI.

Lee Ho-yeon (31), who hit the first-ever walk-off, bases-loaded home run in the bottom of the 9th with two outs for the KBO League yesterday (25th), will make his debut as a leadoff starter. Additionally, key bullpen resource Kwak Do-kyu (22), known as 'a thousand troops and ten thousand horses,' has returned to the 1st division roster after overcoming an injury, about a month later. The KIA Tigers announced their starting lineup for the second game of the three-game midweek series against the Lotte Giants.

KIA will face Lotte at Gwangju-KIA Champions Field at 6:30 p.m. on the 26th in a regular-season home game of the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League.

Led by Lee Ho-yeon's dramatic walk-off, bases-loaded home run as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 9th yesterday, KIA secured an 8-5 comeback victory.

With this win, KIA recorded 61 wins, 50 losses, and 2 ties, maintaining sole possession of 4th place in the league. They successfully ended their two-game losing streak and remain 0.5 games behind 3rd-place LG Twins.

And they aim to carry forward the momentum from that thrilling walk-off victory.

For today's game, KIA set its starting batting order as follows: Lee Ho-yeon (second baseman), Park Sang-jun (first baseman), Kim Do-young (third baseman), Castro (left fielder), Na Sung-beom (designated hitter), Ha Joo-seok (shortstop), Kim Ho-ryeong (center fielder), Kim Tae-gun (catcher), and Park Jung-woo (right fielder). The starting pitcher is Hwang Dong-ha.

Compared to yesterday, Lee Ho-yeon replaced Park Jae-hyun at leadoff. The second spot also changed from Castro to Park Sang-jun. Meanwhile, Castro moved up to the fourth spot in the lineup, forming a clean-up trio with third-place Kim Do-young and fifth-place Na Sung-beom. The starting catcher's mask also switched from Han Jun-su yesterday to Kim Tae-gun today. With Na Sung-beom taking the designated hitter role, Park Jung-woo will handle right field defense.

Additionally, changes were made to the 1st division roster. Kwak Do-kyu, who suffered a thigh injury in late July and was sidelined, has returned to the 1st division. In his place, Yoon Do-hyun was removed from the 1st division roster.

Before the game, KIA manager Lee Beom-ho stated, "(Park) Jae-hyun showed slight signs of illness, so we were considering the first spot in the lineup and decided to put Lee Ho-yeon there. He had energy yesterday. It hasn't even been 24 hours yet (laughs). We hope he can maintain that energy through today."

Regarding Kwak Do-kyu, he added, "We do not plan to have him pitch twice in a row this week. From next week onward, consecutive appearances should be no problem. We are considering using him for short stints against left-handed batters in the 7th or 8th inning—perhaps one, two, or at most three batters—and deploying him only in critical situations while keeping right-handed pitchers on standby to see us through to the 9th."

Meanwhile, facing KIA, Lotte set its starting batting order as follows: Hwang Seong-bin (center fielder), Na Seung-yeop (designated hitter), Reyes (left fielder), Han Dong-hee (third baseman), Go Seung-min (first baseman), Han Tae-yang (second baseman), Jeon Min-jae (shortstop), Son Seong-bin (catcher), and Jang Du-seong (right fielder). The starting pitcher is Rodriguez.

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*This content was translated by AI.