‘King’ Ha-seong homers off Kershaw in victory

The man they call “King” in San Diego has gone deep against a future Hall of Famer from a hated rival.

The Padres’ South Korean infielder Kim Ha-seong delivered a pinch-hit solo home run off Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers, helping the Friars to a 3-2 victory over their National League West foe at Petco Park in San Diego on Tuesday (local time).

Kim’s blast, which came in the bottom of the fifth inning, gave the Padres a 3-0 lead, and they weathered the late storm to extend their winning streak to six games.

The Padres improved to 44-32, good for third in the top-heavy NL West and 4.5 games behind the division-leading San Francisco Giants. The Dodgers are in second at 44-29.

This was Kim’s fifth home run of the season. Kim pinch hit for the starter Blake Snell in the ninth spot and Nabil Crismatt took over the mound to begin the sixth.

Snell kept the Dodgers off the board while giving up four hits through five innings. When his spot in the lineup came up with one out in the bottom of the fifth, Kim’s number was called.

Kim took the first-pitch fastball from Kershaw for a strike and then got fooled badly on a curveball to go down 0-2 in the count. But when Kershaw, a three-time Cy Young Award winner and a former MVP, came back with the same curveball, Kim made no mistake. He timed his swing perfectly and deposited the ball into left-field seats, prompting a “Beat LA!” chant from the crowd.

Kim hurt his right index finger while playing second base in Monday’s

game against the Dodgers, when a groundball hopped up on him and hit him in his non-glove hand.

Kim recovered and threw the ball to first for the out. X-rays on the hand were negative, and although Kim was held out of the starting lineup Tuesday, he went through his usual pregame routine, which

included batting practice and fielding drills.

Kim is now batting .217/.277/.373 with five homers and 21 RBIs in 60 games as a big league rookie.

The former Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) All-Star is carving out a niche as a utility-type player for the Padres.