Pittsburgh Pirates Bae Ji-hwan played an active role by stealing his 14th base of the season and showing a hobi once. However, he failed to prevent the team from losing, and in his last at-bat, he was unable to defend in the ninth inning after complaining of pain in his right foot after hitting.
Bae Ji-hwan started as second baseman and first batter in the 2023 Major League Baseball match against the Toroto Blue Jays held at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA on the 6th (Korean time), recording no hits, 1 walk and 1 base in 3 at-bats. His season batting average dropped from 0.253 to 0.244.
크크크벳 Although he did not produce a hit, the ‘on base = stolen base’ formula continued. Bae Ji-hwan did not accumulate many stolen bases until mid-April, despite leaving a huge impact by recording two stolen bases from the first game of this season. However, starting against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 26, he is adding stolen bases whenever he gets a break.
The previous day (5th), while Bae Ji-hwan was silent with no hits, Ronald Acuna Jr. (Atlanta Braves) succeeded in stealing his 15th base of the season, widening the gap. However, Bae Ji-hwan succeeded in getting on base again on the 6th and stole No. 14, securing second place alone in the National League and narrowing the gap with Acuna Junior.
Bae Ji-hwan ran at the same time as the game started. Bae Ji-hwan succeeded in getting on base by getting a walk in the first at-bat as the lead batter in the bottom of the first inning. Afterwards, he stole second base straight away and recorded his 14th stolen base of the season. The on-base = stolen base formula continues today. However, the next situation was a little disappointing.
Bae Ji-hwan aimed for the 15th base steal, followed by the 2nd base and the 3rd base as well. However, at this time, Matt Chapman, who was thrown by Toronto catcher Danny Jansen, knelt in front of third base and caught the ball. Bae Ji-hwan turned around behind the base and put his hand on the base. Timing is safe. However, Chapman succeeded in tagging in the gap where his body fell, and he swallowed his regret.
He got on base from the first at-bat, but couldn’t add a hit. In the bottom of the 3rd inning, trailing by 0-2, 1 out and 1 base. In his second at-bat, Bae Ji-hwan scooped up a low sweeper on the fifth pitch of Toronto starter Chris Bassett, but was dismissed with a floating ball from second baseman. And in the third at-bat in the sixth inning, the second baseman grounded.
If the appearance in attack was a little disappointing, it shone again in defense. In the top of the 5th inning, with Pittsburgh trailing 0-4, Toronto lead hitter Bo Bisset pushed the ball as hard as he could and quickly spread to the second baseman. At this time, Bae Ji-hwan snatched the ball through a jump catch and made an outcount. The local commentator raised his thumb, saying, “Nice job by bae.”
In the fourth at-bat, a worrying scene came out. Bae Ji-hwan seemed to feel pain in his right foot while running toward first base after hitting a ground ball to second base against Toronto’s new pitcher Eric Swanson. Bae Ji-hwan, who was leaping to run base, frowned and limped, and went back to the dugout.
Bae Ji-hwan, who complained of pain once, did not go on defense in the beginning of the 9th inning, and the game ended in a situation of concern.
The trend in Pittsburgh, which caused a huge storm in April, seems to have broken. Pittsburgh fell into a swamp of five consecutive losses, starting with the Washington Nationals on the 1st and losing to the Tampa Bay Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays on the same day.