After two straight losses, the KIA Tigers will look to turn things around in the first game of a three-game weekend series.

Head coach Kim Jong-kook’s team will play the 13th game of the season against the Doosan Bears of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League on Friday at Gwangju-KIA Champions Field. Yoon Young-chul, known as “lefty Young-gun,” will be in the starting lineup.

After a 9-10 loss to the Daegu Samsung Lions on the 12th, KIA immediately traveled home for a home game against the Lotte Giants on the 13th. The result was a 1-3 loss (6th inning rainout). The second straight loss brought KIA’s season record to 60 wins, 2 losses, and 54 draws, and put a “red light” on fourth-place Mercury.

The final match of the regular season against Lotte, scheduled for Thursday, was canceled due to rain. This is the 22nd rainout of the season, and the game will be rescheduled at a later date as there is no makeup date. Under the KBO’s plan, all teams should have completed their regular season schedules by Oct. 10, but KIA will have to wait until mid-October to play after four games were rained out after the remaining schedule was announced.

Should the team see the extra day off as a boon to their losing streak, or should they be more worried about the number of games that have been rained out?

Before the game against Doosan, Kia head coach Kim Jong-guk said, “We lost too many games. “I think it’s going to be a little tough until the end,” he said, adding, “The rest yesterday (Nov. 14) might have helped, but we have to play more games later.” “I think it’s going to be tough until the end,” he said, adding that the break was a chance for the players to recharge.

On top of that, Doosan will be sending out their top three starters this weekend in Brandon Waddell, Raoul Alcantara, and Guibin. Doosan will be looking for at least two wins against KIA, as they are in the hunt for fourth place, let alone fifth. KIA, on the other hand, has prepared for the three-game weekend series with Yoon Young-chul, Hwang Dong-ha, and Thomas Pannoni. Left-hander Kim Ki-hoon, who was initially scheduled to start against Lotte on Thursday, could make a relief appearance against Doosan on Saturday.안전놀이터

“I don’t know how (Doosan) could have arranged the rotation like that,” Kim joked, “but we have to use only domestic players, and especially in the 15th and 16th games, we have young players starting, so I’m not going to put any pressure on them. If Hwang Dong-ha goes five innings like he did in his last start, then Kim Ki-hoon will go short, and if not, we’ll use a different pairing.”

Meanwhile, KIA’s lineup against Brandon Waddell is Kim Do-young (shortstop), Lee Chang-jin (center field), Na Sung-beom (designated hitter), Choi Hyung-woo (left field), Kim Sun-bin (second base), Lee Woo-sung (right field), Hwang Dae-in (first base), Han Jun-soo (catcher), and Choi Jung-yong (third base). Foreign hitter Socrates Brito will be rested, while Choi Hyung-woo and Lee Chang-jin will play left field and center field, respectively.