Pittsburgh Pirates’ Bae Ji-hwan used his blazing speed to produce another long ball.
Bae went 1-for-4 with a home run in the leadoff spot in the lineup against the Atlanta Braves in the 2023 Major League Baseball World Series at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia, on Monday (Sept. 9).
The bat has been hitting well of late. Bae had a five-game hitting streak last month, starting against the Chicago Cubs on April 28 and ending against the St. Louis Cardinals on May 3. He went silent against the Milwaukee Brewers on the 5th, but then started producing hits again, extending his hitting streak to three games until today.바카라
His performance in the last game in particular stood out. Against Milwaukee on April 7, Bae exploded for his first major league hit, a three-run homer that set up the game-winning run and later drove in the game-winning run. He continued his long ball explosion today.
In his first at-bat of the game, Bae led off the first inning with an 89.6 mph (144.2 km/h) sinker to the top of the strike zone off Atlanta starter Bryce Elder’s four-seamer down the left field foul line. It wasn’t going to be a long ball, but that’s when Bae started running past the first base line and toward second base.
Bae didn’t hesitate to run to second base, and his helmet came off, causing him to slide and be ruled safe at second base. Unfortunately, despite using his tremendous speed to put runners in scoring position, he was unable to capitalize as he was unable to follow through.
After a good start to his first at-bat, he was unable to get a hit in his next at-bat. Bae faced Elder in the top of the third with runners on first and second, and he swung at a sinker in the middle of the strike zone, but had to settle for a grounder to the first baseman. Then in the top of the sixth inning, trailing 0-8, he took a high fastball to his body and retired on a fly ball to left field.
The fourth at-bat was also disappointing. Trailing 2-8 and with the bases loaded in the top of the seventh inning, Bae took a three-seam fastball from reliever Dylan Lee, a 92.6-mph fastball high in the strike zone, and grounded out to shortstop. Bae advanced to second on a grounder and then stole second base on a Brian Reynolds single, but again, the at-bat ended with no further damage.
The matchup between Pittsburgh and Atlanta on this day was a complete win for the A’s, especially with Ronald Acuna Jr. and Eddie Rosario flying high. It was Atlanta who broke the tie in the early going. Atlanta struck first in the bottom of the third inning when Rosario drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI single off the bat of Matt Olson and Marcell Osuna.
Atlanta’s scoring streak continued. In the next at-bat, Travis Dano walked to load the bases and Orlando Arcia drove in another run with an RBI single to extend the lead to 4-0. In the top of the fifth, Acuna Jr. hit his 35th arch of the season and Rosario followed with a two-run shot to extend the lead to 7-0.
Buoyed by the momentum, Atlanta put the game out of reach in the eighth when Acuna Jr. drove in a run on a two-out, three-run single that set up Arcia’s double. Pittsburgh rallied in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run homer by Zack Swinski, but the already large gap was not easily closed, and the Pirates fell to Atlanta, 8-2.