Patrick Wisdom of the Kia Tigers (R) high-fives third base coach Cho Jae-yung after hitting a two-run home run against the Doosan Bears during a Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on June 4, 2025. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Patrick Wisdom homered for the first time in over a month and knocked in three runs, as the Kia Tigers defeated the Doosan Bears 8-3 on the road in Seoul.
By extending their winning streak to three games, the Tigers improved to 29-28-1 (wins-losses-ties), the first time they have gone over .500 in winning percentage since reaching 2-1-0 on March 25.
The Bears have now dropped four straight games, including two in a row under interim manager Cho Sung-hwan. Their skipper Lee Seung-yuop resigned Monday with the Bears in ninth place among 10 teams in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), and they are still stuck in ninth at 23-34-3.
Before a sellout crowd of 23,750 at Jamsil Baseball Stadium, the Bears opened the scoring in the bottom first, courtesy of Kim Jae-hwan’s RBI double off starter James Naile, after a single and a hit-by-pitch put two men aboard.
The Tigers tied the score in the top second when rookie starter Choi Min-seok threw a wild pitch after giving up two straight singles to put runners at the corners.
After escaping a no-out, two-on jam unscathed in the top third, the Bears took the lead in the bottom half of that inning thanks to a fortuitous bounce.
With Jung Soo-bin at second, Yang Eui-ji chopped a grounder right at shortstop Park Chan-ho for what appeared to be a routine out. The ball instead took a funny hop just in front of Park and sailed over the head of the helpless shortstop, allowing Jung to score to put the Bears up 2-1.
But then Choi Min-seok pitched himself more trouble in the top fourth.
He walked Choi Hyoung-woo and Oh Sun-woo to start the inning. Patrick Wisdom brought home Choi Hyoung-woo with a single to center fielder Jung Soo-bin, who bobbled the ball and let Oh take third base.
And when Jung’s throw bounced past third baseman Park Jun-soon, Oh sprinted home to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead.
Jung was charged with two errors on the play. He had not made any error in 57 games this season prior to Wednesday and had one error in 136 games last year.
The Bears pulled even in the bottom fifth with Yang Eui-ji’s solo home run off Naile.
Earlier in the inning, Naile took a Jake Cave line drive to the back of his right hand. A team trainer checked his hand for a few minutes, and Naile stayed in the game. But four pitches later, Naile gave up the game-tying homer.
The Tigers responded with a homer of their own in the top sixth, with Wisdom taking reliever Lee Young-ha deep for a tiebreaking two-run shot that put the Tigers up 5-3.
It was Wisdom’s 10th homer of the season but his first since April 24, 13 games ago. He played just seven games in May due to a back injury, and this was only his third game back in action.
Kia Tigers reliever Sung Yeong-tak pitches against the Doosan Bears during a Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on June 4, 2025. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
Kim Tae-gun’s sacrifice fly pushed the Tigers’ lead to 6-3 in the top eighth, and Choi Won-jun landed a knockout blow with a two-run home run in the top ninth.
(Yonhap)
