Professor Seo's Seo Geon-chang's home run came in 560 days. The KIA Tigers beat KT WIZ and chased the leading Hanwha Eagles with starting pitcher Nail's quality start and Seo Geon-chang's two-run shot in two consecutive games.

KIA won the match against Suwon KT 5 to 1 on April 3. After avenging its loss on the previous day by winning six games and losing two games on the day, KIA moved to second place in the league, trailing Hanwha (7 wins and two losses), which had no game due to cancellation of rain on the day, by 0.5 game difference.

On the day, KIA faced KT starting pitcher Eom Sang-baek by banking on its starting batting order of Park Chan-ho (striker), Kim Do-young (third baseman), Socrates (left fielder), Choi Hyung-woo (designated hitter), Lee Woo-sung (right fielder), Kim Sun-bin (second baseman), Seo Geon-chang (first baseman), Kim Tae-gun (pitch) and Choi Won-jun (center fielder). KIA's starting pitcher was Nail.

"I'm going to make a lineup mainly for players who are in good hitting conditions," KIA manager Lee Bum-ho told reporters before the game. As the bullpen pitcher teams are in good pitching condition in the second half of the game, it will be important to score points early in the game. In that regard, I put (Seo) Geon-chang in the starting lineup today."

KIA gave up the first run in the bottom of the first inning. KIA faced a crisis with two outs and runners on the first and third bases when it gave up hits to Cheonseong-ho and Kang Baek-ho in the bottom of the first inning. When the first baseman Kang Baek-ho stole the second base, second baseman Kim Sun-bin, who was about to be thrown by catcher Kim Tae-gun, made a catch error, and third baseman Cheonseong-ho stepped home.

KIA, which fought back, tied the game 1-1 in the top of the second inning with Seo Geon-chang's timely RBI left-handed hit in the first and third bases with one out made by consecutive hits by Lee Woo-sung and Kim Sun-bin.

In the top of the fourth inning, Seo hit his first homerun in 560 days. In the top of the fourth inning, Seo hit a 129 km/h changeup on the third pitch of opponent team starter Um Sang-baek with two outs and a runner on first base, drawing a two-run arch with a driving distance of 115 meters. Seo had his first homerun in 560 days since the match against KIA in Gwangju on September 21, 2022.

On the mound, starting pitcher Nail continued pitching without losing a point from the second inning. Nail, who pitched three innings in a row from the second to the fourth innings, faced a crisis with two outs and runners on the first and third bases with two outs in the top of the fifth inning. However, Nail met the requirement to win two games this season by holding the batter's box as a fly ball to the first baseman.

KIA took a step further with Kim Tae-gun's two-run timely hit in the top of the sixth inning when Kim Sun-bin's hit and Seo Geon-chang's double made it to the second and third bases with one out.

Nail took the mound in the bottom of the sixth inning as well. Nail was hit by a double by Rojas after one out in the bottom of the sixth inning, but he induced Kang Baek-ho and Hwang Jae-gyun to make poor hits to achieve quality start for the second consecutive game of this season.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Nail handed over the ball to Jang Hyun-sik and finished the game on the day. Having recorded 93 pitches, five hits, seven strikeouts and one run (non-earned) in six innings on the day, Nail dominated the KT lineup with a variety of repertoires by mixing the maximum speed of 152 km/h four-seam fastballs (14 pitches), the maximum speed of 151 km/h two-seam fastballs (20) and cutters (14) with sweeper (27) and change-up (18 balls).

KIA finished the game without additional loss by raising Jang Hyun-sik (1 hit, 1 strikeout, 1 strikeout, 1 hit, 1 strikeout, 1 hit, 2 strikeouts, 1 hit, 1 strikeout, 1 hit, 1 strikeout, and Jeon Sang-hyun (1 scoreless inning) in the 9th inning.

"It was a game where nails were thrown well and Seo Kun-chang hit well. After losing a point in the bottom of the first inning, Seo's timely hit in the attack in the top of the second inning balanced the game, and Seo hit a two-run homer in the top of the fourth inning with two outs and a runner on first base, bringing the team's victory to a greater extent. In a situation where additional points were needed, Kim's timely two-run homer became a big contribution to his team's victory. Veteran players including Seo Kun-chang, Kim Sun-bin and Kim Tae-gun have displayed outstanding performances," Lee said in a thumbs-up.

"Nail, who started today's game, gave quality start pitching in two consecutive games following the last one, and defended his team's mound firmly. It will be a great contribution to the management of the mound in the future. All the players who did their best worked hard. I would like to thank the fans for staying with me until the end despite the chilly weather, and I will prepare well to play the Winning Series tomorrow," Lee said.

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