Kia Tigers vs Samsung Lions Prediction, 5/18/2023 KBO Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Kia Tigers vs Samsung Lions

Date: Thursday, May 18, 2023

Location: Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, South Korea

TV: MBC Sports+

Daegu Samsung Lions Park is the venue where Min-ho Kang and the Samsung Lions (15-19, 7th in KBO) will take on the Kia Tigers (15-17, 6th in KBO) on Thursday, May 18, 2023.

Kia has a slugging percentage of .339 and have been rung up 247 times, while being walked on 111 occasions. They have 117 runs batted in as well as 277 base knocks on the campaign, while their average at the plate sits at .256. The Tigers have recorded 35 two-baggers as a team and have hit 17 balls out of the park. They have racked up 130 runs scored while having a team OBP of .328. As a squad, the Kia Tigers are knocking in 4.1 runs per contest, which ranks them 8th in the league.

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Sun Bin Kim is a batter who should be able to impact this game for Kia. Kim has earned a batting average of .301 in his time in baseball, in addition to 659 scored runs and an OPS of .750. He has gone down on strikes 468 times and has taken a walk on 528 occasions, contributing to a .374 OBP. In his professional baseball career, Kim has drilled 32 baseballs out of the park while driving in 525 runs. His career slugging percentage is .376 in addition to racking up 1,744 bases. In his time spent in pro baseball, he faced a pitcher 5,366 times and got on base with a hit 1,398 times.

The Tigers have swiped 24 bags and have been gunned down 9 times, which tells us their caught stealing percentage sits at 27.3%. The Kia Tigers have a total of 850 putouts thus far, in addition to 292 assists and 23 errors. Their fielding percentage is holding steady at .980 which has them sitting 4th in the league and they have twisted 37 double plays.

Their strikeout to walk ratio is 1.64 and the pitching staff has earned a collective WHIP of 1.44. Tigers pitchers have given up 18 long balls and also 130 runs (10th in KBO). Kia has conceded 264 hits (8.4 per 9 innings) and also 117 earned runs. The Tigers have compiled a team earned run average of 3.72 over the course of the season (6th in the league), and their staff has struck out 238 hitters.

The Lions have a slugging percentage of .356 and they tally 4.29 runs per contest (6th in baseball). They have 46 two-baggers, while walking 114 times as well as putting up 146 runs. Samsung has knocked in 24 HRs on the year as well as 142 runs batted in. They have been called out on strikes on 234 occasions (7th in KBO) and have earned 285 hits. The Samsung Lions have earned a team OBP of .322 and a team batting average of .248 so far this year.

Min-ho Kang is a hitter you are going to want to keep your eye on for Samsung. Kang has earned a walk 728 times while fanning on 1,431 attempts. He has compiled 875 runs in addition to having 1,109 runs batted in. His OBP comes in at .354 and he has a career OPS of .816. He has homered 308 times, with 3,184 total bases and a .462 slugging percentage. For the 6,891 official at-bats in his baseball career, Kang has hit .275 in addition to having 1,896 base knocks.

The Samsung Lions have turned 22 double plays and own a fielding percentage of .989 (1st in the league). The Lions have accrued 323 assists, 14 errors and have notched a total of 916 putouts this season. Out of their 23 attempts at getting a steal, they have been successful 14 times and been caught 9 times (39.1% caught stealing rate).

The Lions have a WHIP of 1.413 and have a FIP of 4.83 as a team so far this year. They have earned a strikeout to walk ratio of 2.03 (243 strikeouts against 120 walks). They are sitting at 4th in the league as a pitching staff in total hits given up with 311. They have yielded 27 homers and they relinquish 4.83 runs per 9 innings (9th in KBO). The Samsung pitching staff have given up 164 runs so far this season while holding an ERA of 4.63 (157 earned runs relinquished).

Who will win tonight's KBO game against the spread?

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Kia

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