Padres' Kim Ha-seong hits 3rd homer of season, tops 100 career RBIs

All News 15:22 May 02, 2023

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, May 2 (Yonhap) -- Kim Ha-seong of the San Diego Padres has ended his homerless drought at 18 games.

Kim belted a three-run home run to help the Padres past the Cincinnati Reds 8-3 at Petco Park in San Diego on Monday (local time).

Kim's blast off Reds reliever Alex Young in the bottom of the fifth inning broke a 3-3 tie. The ball left Kim's bat at 101.2 miles per hour and traveled 353 feet over the left field fence.

In this Associated Press photo, Kim Ha-seong of the San Diego Padres hits a three-run home run against the Cincinnati Reds during the bottom of the fifth inning of a Major League Baseball regular season game at Petco Park in San Diego on May 1, 2023. (Yonhap)

Kim even took a curtain call from Padres faithful after the go-ahead shot.

The homer also gave Kim 102 RBIs for his big league career, now in Year 3.

Batting seventh, Kim went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs in the game. He's now batting .222/.307/.378 for the season.

"I had an opportunity with two outs. The pitcher threw a mistake, and I was able to capitalize on that," Kim said. "I thought the ball was going to go off the wall, but luckily, it cleared the fence."

The Padres have now won three in a row to move back above .500 at 16-14.

"We want to win a championship here, and we have to keep moving forward," Kim said. "We'll all do our best to play even better."