By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter
Kim Tae-kyun of the Chiba Lotte Marines slugged it out again Sunday, hitting his 11th and 12th home runs of the season as his side played the Yomiuri Giants, where Kim's fellow Korean Lee Seung-yeop played in the starting lineup, in an inter-league match at the Tokyo Dome.
Kim drained four RBIs in the game, in stark contrast to a hitless Lee. However, the Giants won the game 10-8.
The Korean player stayed atop in RBIs with 45 and moved closer to the leader in the home run derby, only one shy of Jose Ortiz of the Softbank Hawks, in the Pacific League.
His long balls came two games after his latest against the Yokohama Bay Stars on Thursday. After going 3-for-4, his batting average also improved to .307, with the slugging average third in the league at .525.
In the third inning, the 28-year-old cleanup batter hit a two-run homer off Kentaro Nishimura, in a virtual line drive over the left field fence to tie it 3-3.
With the Marines trailing 10-6 in the ninth, Kim slammed off another two-run shot by pouncing on a Norihito Kaneto slider.
Lee of the Giants, however, struggled throughout the game, failing to produce a hit in three at-bats. The former Samsung Lions star, who made the starting squad for the first time in four days, saw his batting average slide to .204, after being struck out twice and ending with a pop fly.
In the sixth inning, with bases fully loaded, he was replaced by pinch hitter Edgar Gonzalez.