Kim Ha-seong of the San Diego Padres drove in a run in his final game before traveling to his native Korea for a historic season-opening series.Kim batted 1-for-3 with an RBI double against the Oakland Athletics at Peoria Stadium in Peoria, Arizona, on Wednesday (local time).Batting fifth, Kim delivered the run-scoring hit with two outs in the bottom of the first inning against starter Ross Stripling. Kim came around to score on a follow-up single by Jurickson Profar.The Padres scored three times in the opening frame and went on to win the game 12-11.Kim lined out to shortstop Max Schuemann in the second inning and struck out against Stripling in the fourth.Samuel Zavala replaced Kim at shortstop in the top of the fifth.
In his fourth season with the Padres, Kim is batting .308 with a .925 on-base plus slugging percentage in 11 games. He has a home run, five RBIs and three steals.The Padres will face the Los Angeles Dodgers in the two-game Seoul Series next Wednesday and Thursday at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. These will be the first Major League Baseball regular-season games to ever be played in Korea.The Padres were scheduled to board a plane bound for Korea on Wednesday evening and land at Incheon International Airport, just west of Seoul, on Friday.Before playing the Dodgers, the Padres will play two exhibition games at Gocheok: against the Korean national team at 7 p.m. Sunday and against the defending Korean Series champions LG Twins at noon Monday.Kim played seven seasons for the Kiwoom Heroes in the Korea Baseball Organization before signing with the Padres and used Gocheok as his home park for the last five of those seven 토토 campaigns.
