Kim blasts a leadoff home run off former starting pitcher Kelly, his 16th of the year.

Ha-Sung Kim (San Diego Padres) hit a leadoff home run in the first inning, his 16th of the season and four shy of the 20-homer, 20-double mark.

Kim went 1-for-5 with a walk and an RBI in the leadoff spot in the first game of a Major League Baseball (MLB) doubleheader against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Petco Park in San Diego, California, U.S., on Tuesday.

Trailing 0-2 in the bottom of the first inning, Kim, a former member of the SK Wyverns (now SSG Landers) of the Korean Baseball Organization, pulled a two-seam fastball from Arizona right-hander Meryl Kelly over the left field fence for a leadoff home run.

The cannon, which came 17 days after his last at-bat against the Colorado Rockies on April 3, marked the second straight game and fifth time in his big league career that Kim hit a leadoff homer in the first inning.

It was also the second time in his career he’s robbed Kelly of a home run, the first coming last September.

Kim, who already has 27 stolen bases, will join the 20-20 club with four more home runs.

He now has 45 RBIs on the season.

Kim grounded out to shortstop with runners on first and second in the second inning, struck out in the fifth, and was stranded on second base in the seventh.

In his final at-bat in the bottom of the ninth, with runners on first and second and three outs, he grounded out to first base on a full count.

Fernando Tatis Jr. singled and Juan Soto flied out to left field with the bases loaded to make it 4-6.

Kelly, the poster boy for the KBO’s era of big league success, pitched 5 1/3 innings of three-run ball to reach the 10-win plateau for the second straight year.

In the second game of the doubleheader, Kim batted leadoff and went 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.

After going 1-for-8 in the two games, Kim’s batting average dropped to .278.

Kim hit a pair of grounders to third base and a single, and he drew a walk with one out in the eighth inning, but was unable to advance after the next at-bat.

San Diego fell to 1-8, dropping both games of the doubleheader and putting itself in even more trouble in the postseason wild-card race.

The Padres are in seventh place, 먹튀검증토토사이트 5.5 games back of the third National League wild card, which is a last-minute ticket to fall baseball.