Gwangju: Kia Tigers infielder Kim Sun-bin has accomplished a great deal over his 18-year career in the Korea Baseball Organization, but the one thing he had not done until Friday was to get a walk-off hit. The 35-year-old couldn’t have picked a better time to pick up his first walk-off knock, as his game-winning hit in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted the Tigers to a 5-4 win over the Doosan Bears at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju, 270 kilometers south of Seoul.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the Tigers, at 60-65-4 (wins-losses-ties), are still very much alive in their pursuit of a postseason spot, sitting three games behind the fifth-place Samsung Lions with 15 games to play. The Tigers also have two games in hand on the Lions.

In Friday’s game, the Tigers trailed 3-0 after two innings and then 4-3 entering the ninth inning. They were a strike away from losing this game and falling further out of postseason contention, before Choi Hyoung-woo began the rally with a single. Yoon Do-hyun drew a walk to put the tying run at second, and Park Chan-ho’s bloop single to center tied the score.

As important as Choi’s hit was, Kim said Yoon’s walk and Park’s RBI single really set the stage. “They created such a great opportunity for me and I tried my best to get locked in,” Kim said, his uniform drenched in water after a wild celebration on the field. “We only needed a hit to win this game so I tried to just put the ball in play. Luckily, I was able to put the barrel on the ball.”

These are desperate times for the Tigers, the 2024 Korean Series champions whose title defense has been plagued by injuries to several key players, including Kim himself. At this point, they are playing every game with their season on the line. “When I went behind in the count at two strikes, I knew I just had to do whatever it takes to put the bat on the ball,” Kim said. “Otherwise, I thought our season was going to be over.”

Kim can only hope that the Tigers will be able to build some positive momentum from the thrilling win. “We’ve had so many close calls this season. When we were down by a run entering the ninth, I thought to myself, ‘Here we go again,'” Kim said. “But we got the last laugh this time.”

Asked how excited he was to finally get his first walk-off hit, Kim smiled and said, “It would have been better if we’d clinched our postseason spot with this hit.”

The Tigers managed to win two out of three games at home this week, before hitting the road to play the first-place LG Twins in Seoul on Saturday and Sunday. “We have to win out from here,” Kim said. “I think everyone here has the same mindset. We can’t afford to lose now.”