▲ In this Associated Press photo, Kim Kwang-hyun of the St. Louis Cardinals pitches against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the top of the first inning of a Major League Baseball regular season game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on June 30, 2021. (Yonhap)
▲ In this USA Today Sports photo via Reuters, Kim Kwang-hyun of the St. Louis Cardinals hits a two-run double against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the bottom of the second inning of a Major League Baseball regular season game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on June 30, 2021. (Yonhap)
▲ In this USA Today Sports photo via Reuters, Kim Kwang-hyun of the St. Louis Cardinals celebrates his two-run double against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the bottom of the second inning of a Major League Baseball regular season game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on June 30, 2021. (Yonhap)

MLB-pitcher

Cardinals' Kim Kwang-hyun pitches one-run ball, doubles in victory

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, July 1 (Yonhap) -- For the first time in more than two months, St. Louis Cardinals' starter Kim Kwang-hyun got the letter "W" next to his name in the box score.

Kim pitched five innings of one-run ball and helped his own cause with a two-run double at the plate, as the Cardinals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-4 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on Wednesday (local time).

The South Korean left-hander gave up three singles and three walks, while striking out five against the worst team in the majors. Kim improved to 2-5 and lowered his ERA from 3.98 to 3.79. This was his first win since April 23.

Kim gave up a walk and a single with two outs in the first, before striking out Asdrubal Cabrera, who fanned on a 2-2 slider.

And that would be the theme for the rest of the game, as all five of Kim's strikeouts came on a slider. Kim threw 95 pitches and 46 of them were sliders, which generated six whiffs on 22 swings by Arizona hitters.

Kim walked Josh Reddick to begin the top of the second but retired the next three batters. And with the score still tied at 0-0 in the bottom of the second, Kim took the matters into his own hands at the plate.

With runners at first and second at two outs, Kim swung on a sinker from starter Riley Smith and sent it to deep left field. Left fielder Josh Rojas was playing in, and the ball landed just in front of the warning track as both runners came home easily to put the Cardinals up 2-0.

This was only Kim's second career major league hit, and his first two RBIs in the majors.

Kim gave a run back in the top third, with Cabrera getting a two-out single, but the Cardinals took a 4-1 lead in the bottom third, courtesy of RBI singles by Tyler O'Neill and Yadier Molina.

And that was all the support Kim needed in this game. In the fourth, he erased a leadoff walk to Nick Ahmed by retiring the next three batters. After Paul Goldschmidt's RBI single put the Cardinals ahead 5-1 in the bottom fourth, Kim pitched his first clean inning in the top fifth, with two flyouts followed by a groundout.

Kim's day was done after 96 pitches, his third-highest total this season.

The Cardinals picked up a run each in the fifth and in the seventh. The Diamondbacks put up a three-spot in the top eighth but it was too little, too late.

The Cardinals have now on three straight games to improve to 40-41.

(END)

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