[MyDaily = Reporter Shim Hye-jin] Atlanta Braves shortstop Ha-seong Kim delivered a textbook squeeze bunt to collect his 3rd straight game with a hit, but he came up short on 2 separate walk-off opportunities.
On the 23rd (Korean time) at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia, Kim started at shortstop and batted 8th against the Washington Nationals. He finished 1-for-5 with 1 RBI, 2 strikeouts and 1 run scored.
The result dropped Kim’s season batting average to 0.129.
Leading off the 3rd inning with the score tied 0-0, Kim battled through a 7-pitch at-bat but struck out swinging on a 93.8-mph fastball from Mikolas.
His 2nd plate appearance also ended in frustration. With 2 outs and a runner on first in the bottom of the 5th, Kim lifted Mikolas’s 4th pitch — an 87.5-mph slider — into center field for a routine flyout.
The 3rd at-bat went differently. With the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the 7th and runners at 1st and 3rd, Kim showed bunt against reliever Mitchell Parker. The 1st pitch was a ball. On the 2nd pitch — a 93.2-mph four-seam fastball — he laid down a bunt that dropped between the catcher and the pitcher. The charging 1st baseman tossed to the catcher, but the runner from 3rd beat the tag. Kim recorded a bunt single, extending his hitting streak to 3 games and picking up his 2nd RBI of the season.
Kim came up with a chance to end the game in the bottom of the 9th. With 2 outs and a runner on first in a 2-2 game, a big hit would have sealed it. Pinch-runner Jorge Mateo stole second to create a 2-out, runner-at-second situation, leaving just a single needed to score the winning run. Kim attacked the 3rd pitch — an 88.3-mph slider — but grounded out to third, sending the game to extra innings.
Atlanta surrendered the lead in the top of the 10th when C.J. Abrams ripped a two-run double, putting Washington up 4-2.
In the bottom of the 10th, Kim was on second base when Chadwick Tromp delivered an RBI single to bring him home. Ronald Acuña Jr. then drew a walk, and Mauricio Dubón followed with an RBI single to tie the game at 4-4. A Matt Olson flyout to right left runners at 1st and 3rd, and Ozzie Albies drew a walk to load the bases, but Atlanta couldn’t push across the go-ahead run and the game continued.
Kim had a 2nd chance to finish it in the bottom of the 11th with 1 out and a runner at 2nd, but he struck out against Paxton Schultz. He worked the count full — 7 pitches — before succumbing to an 86.1-mph slider. The game ended on Tromp’s walk-off hit, giving Atlanta the victory and extending their winning streak to 4 games.
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