Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on the 29th.

The sky was full of dark clouds, but that was about it. With a preliminary heavy rain advisory in effect for the entire country, the Gwangju-Korea region received a good amount of rain in the morning. However, the rain tapered off during the day, and by the time kickoff rolled around three hours later, the skies had returned to summer temperatures. Officials from the home team, KIA, rolled out large tarps and began preparing for the game.

Kia was hoping for a break. After losing a rain-called game in the seventh inning against Kiwoom on the 27th, KIA sent eight pitchers to the mound in an 11-inning extra-inning battle against Kiwoom on the 28th, but lost again. The shock of the loss was even greater as the team had shown its determination to win the game by inserting Hwang Dong-ha and Kim Yoo-shin, who were alternate starting candidates. On the 29th, first-team pitching coach Jung Myung-won was notified of his retention and Seo Jae-heng was called up, while Hwang Dong-ha and Kim Yoo-shin were expunged from the first team. With a three-game weekend series against the LG Twins at home on the 30th, KIA needed a break, but the heavens were not cooperating.

With four out of five stadiums across the country rained out, the Gwangju Kiwoom-KIA game was the only one to start on time. KIA was in trouble from the first inning. Foreign pitcher Sean Anderson was hit by five consecutive singles from leadoff hitter Kim Jun-wan to No. 5 hitter Lim Ji-yeol. Anderson seemed to get a breather when he struck out Song Sung-moon and Lee Ji-young, respectively, but gave up another hit to Lim Byung-wook. Kiwoom exploded for four runs in the top of the first inning. KIA sent three batters to the plate against Kiwoom’s Jang Jae-young in the bottom of the first.

Just 23 minutes into the game and about to move into the second inning, heavy rain began to fall from the sky. The umpires sent a “come out quickly” signal to the KIA dugout, which was soon followed by an evacuation order, and tarps were placed on home plate and the mound. As the downpour intensified, the umpires ordered KIA to lay down a large tarp. However, the tarps were soaked from the previous two days of rain and gained a lot of weight, causing them to not stretch properly. Puddles of water began to form on the ground, which had been dampened by two days of rain. The rain stopped for about 10 minutes, but puddles had already formed all over the infield.바카라사이트

The umpires ordered the infield to be drained in order to resume play. With the rain still falling, stadium officials came out with sponges and worked for a while to remove the water. At this point, it started to rain again, and the game was declared a rainout. Anderson and Kia breathed a sigh of relief, and Kiwoom let out a sigh of frustration.