By Yoon Chul
Chiba Lotte Marines Korean slugger Kim Tae-kyun hit his first homer of the season to clinch the game winner in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), Saturday.
In the ninth inning with his team trailing 5-3 against the Yokohama Bay Stars, Kim blasted a three-run home run for a 6-5 come-from-behind thrilling victory.
“When I entered at-bat in the ninth I only thought about a home run,” Kim said after the game.
With the dramatic victory the Marines snapped a four game losing streak.
The 29-year-old, who hit 21 homers, 92 RBIs with a .268 batting average in his debut year last season, was put on the disabled list on May 19 after injuring his right wrist but as the struggling Marines needed a reliable slugger, manager Norifumi Nishimura called him up on Friday.
In the road game Chiba went two up in the first but the visitors failed to score for the next six innings.
Meanwhile Yokohama, which scored one in the bottom of first, reversed the game, added another three in the second and one in the third.
Thanks to a solo home run from Tomoya Satozaki at the top of the eighth, the Marines began to trail 5-3.
In the last inning Yokohama sent closer Shun Yamaguchi to the mound but he allowed a double to Takumi Kobe before retiring the next two batters.
After the Yokohama closer allowed another walk, Kim sent a loosely controlled breaking ball over the right fence.
“As I hadn’t helped the team by hitting a dinger, (I felt responsibility.) Now I feel a little better. I will do my best to defend the Japanese series title," Kim said.
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