'Even if Kim Do-young is away for two weeks,' the reason KIA's ranking race isn't over: With a foreign ace 're-summoned' after 22 years, Dong-yeol Seon

*This content was translated by AI.

Key players including Kim Do-young (23) will be absent for about two weeks. The gap with the top team is by no means small. Still, there is a reason to expect that the KIA Tigers will not easily crumble: the presence of ace Adam Oller (32), who can break their losing streak.

Oller made his first start on the 4th at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in a home game against KT Wiz of the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League, pitching 6⅔ innings with three hits allowed, three walks, ten strikeouts, and two earned runs.

KIA escaped its two-game losing streak with a 4-3 victory on a walk-off sacrifice fly by Byeong Woo-hyuk in the 10th inning. Although Oller did not earn the win, he dominated the early and middle portions of the game perfectly, laying the foundation for the comeback victory.

The significance was even greater because the opponent was the top-ranked KT. After the game, Oller reflected, "KT's lineup is very strong, so I pitched with the highest concentration against every batter and in every count."

In fact, it was overwhelming. He struck out Huh Kyung-min to end the bottom of the 5th inning, striking out all nine KT starting batters at least once. This marked the first time in the KBO League this season that all starting batters were struck out, and it is the seventh time in KIA club history and the 46th time in KBO League history.

For the first time in 22 years, even the names of Tigers legends have been brought up again. The club has recorded three times for former manager Seon-yeol Seon (63), twice for Hanwha Futures League manager Dae-jin Lee (52), and once for Dong-hyun Lee (47, selected by KIA in the second round of the 2024 draft). The most recent instance was when Dong-hyun Lee achieved it on October 5, 2004, against Hanwha at Mudeung.

The no-hit bid continued for 5⅔ innings. It was a perfect game through the fourth inning; the only baserunner allowed by Oller before the sixth inning was a walk to Jang Jin-hyuk in the fifth. Oller, facing KT for the first time this year, placed complete trust in catcher Kim Tae-gun. He explained, "Today I trusted (Kim) Tae-gun's lead even more than usual. We took a more aggressive lead than normal, and by following that lead, we were able to create good results."

On this day, Oller threw a total of 104 pitches: 53 four-seam fastballs, 34 sliders, nine changeups, and eight curveballs, with 67 of them landing in the strike zone. However, he did not simply attack the strike zone alone. He aimed to minimize KT's baserunners entirely, a lineup equipped with both power-hitting ability and strategic execution skills.

Oller said, "I appropriately mixed in bait pitches even in difficult counts. As a result, I believe this meaningful record of striking out all starting batters followed."

It was a regret that he could not finish the seventh inning with one out remaining. Oller added, "I had the desire to complete the seventh inning, so it was disappointing to leave one out behind. I am grateful to (Kwak) Do-gyu for closing it out well."

Oller's presence is expected to become even more important for KIA. After the game on the 14th, Kim Do-young and Park Jae-hyun (20), Sung Young-tak (20) will join the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games national team and be absent for about two weeks.

As of the game on the 5th, KIA is in fourth place, trailing top-ranked KT by 6.5 games. In fact, the gap with fifth-place Doosan Bears is only 3.5 games, leading some to view securing a playoff berth as more realistic than chasing the top spot.

At such times, losing streaks are most dangerous. KIA's reliable asset in this regard is the powerful foreign one-two punch of Oller and James Neal (33). In particular, Oller's consistency stands out. Of his 24 starts this season, he recorded a Quality Start (QS: six or more innings with three or fewer earned runs) in 16 games. He has been responsible for 141⅓ innings, posting an 11-9 record with a 2.99 ERA and 154 strikeouts.

There was one major setback as well. On July 28 against the Daegu Samsung Lions, he collapsed in one inning, allowing seven hits, three walks, eight earned runs. However, the shock did not last long. Since August, he has recorded five consecutive Quality Starts, regaining ERA stability in the single-digit range.

Oller also has no intention of ending today's pitching performance as a one-off event. He stated, "Although I allowed two runs, today (the 4th) was a satisfying game for myself," and emphasized, "My goal is to show this level of performance in every remaining start."

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*This content was translated by AI.