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| photo courtesy of Lotte Giants |
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| photo courtesy of Lotte Giants |
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| photo courtesy of Lotte Giants |
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Lotte Giants broke the long nightmare of losing five games in a row. The starting pitcher took charge of the long innings and completed the winning formula in which the batters exploded.
Lotte won 9-2 in the second game of the weekend series against the NC Dinos at Changwon NC Park on the 27th.
With the victory, Lotte recently escaped its five consecutive losses and saved its hope to advance to autumn baseball. He won his 40th game (52 losses and 3 draws) this season, beating the Hanwha Eagles, who did not play for two days due to rain, to rise to 8th place again. He scored nine points by hitting 14 hits and showed off the strength of his revived batters.
NC, which is busy to go, desperately felt the absence of Park Kun-woo, who was injured the previous day. He had only seven hits and suffered his 47th loss (47 wins and 2 draws). As of the previous day, from the third-place Samsung Lions to the seventh-place SSG Landers, they are fiercely competing for rankings within three games of each other.
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| photo courtesy of Lotte Giants |
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Starter Charlie Barnes pitched hard with two runs in seven innings. "I'm sorry for the bullpen. The starting pitcher must be responsible for seven innings to run the winning team afterwardsAs Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung said, the starting pitcher was in charge of seven innings, which gave momentum to the overall team atmosphere. The batters also supported the ace by scoring three points from the first inning.Lotte played as Yoon Dong-hee (right wing), Ko Seung-min (second base), Jeon Joon-woo (designated hitter), Reyes (left wing), Na Seung-yeop (first base), Son Ho-young (third base), Park Seung-wook (striker), Son Sung-bin (catcher), and Jang Doo-sung (middle fielder). The first one is Charlie Barnes.
NC made a lineup of right-handed hitters including Kim Sung-wook (center fielder), Seo Ho-chul (third base), Davison (first base), Kwon Hee-dong (left wing), Kim Hwi-jip (designated hitter), Park Han-gyeol (left wing), Kim Hyung-joon (catcher), Kim Joo-won (striker) and Park Min-woo (second base). The starter was Kim Si-hoon.
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| photo courtesy of Lotte Giants |
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On this day, Lotte newly registered eighth-year prospect Yoon Sung-bin, pitcher Jung Woo-joon, and Kim Min-seok, who became a rookie sensation last year, in the first division, respectively. Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung said, `I actually don't know much about Yoon Sung-bin. The evaluation of the second team was good", "I needed Kim Min-seok because Hwang Sung-bin was not good recently", he explained.
NC manager Kang In-kwon said, "(After Son Ah-seop), Park Kun-woo was also absent the previous day, so it was difficult to exclude more key players.", he explained. Regarding the appointment of Kim Hui-jip as a designated hitter, he added, `I have a good batting sense recently, but I suffered a minor injury when I collided in the defensive process the previous day.'
Lotte took the lead by winning three points first from the top of the first inning. In the top of the first inning, Na Seung-yeop hit a timely hit in a chance with two outs and runners on the first and second bases made by hits by Ko Seung-min and Reyes. Na Seung-yeop continued his good batting sense following his home run the previous day. The next batter, Son Ho-young, hit a two-run double to take a 3-0 lead.
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| photo courtesy of Lotte Giants |
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Lotte starter Barnes allowed NC Seo Ho-chul to hit a triple that fell behind center field after one out in the bottom of the first inning, but he finished the inning by catching Seo Ho-cheol, who was tagged up by Lotte right fielder Yoon Dong-hee, at home when Davison hit a fly ball to right field.
In the top of the third inning, leadoff hitter Ko Seung-min got on base with a hit, and Reyes added one run with an RBI double.
On the other hand, NC had a chance to get first and second bases with two outs in the bottom of the third inning with Park Min-woo's hit and Kim Sung-wook's pitch, but failed to score. He failed to break through Barnes' good pitching. NC starter Kim Si-hoon also pitched hard after losing a point in the beginning and finished with four runs in six innings.
Lotte led 6-0 in the top of the seventh inning by combining Jeon Joon-woo's walk, Reyes' right-handed hit, and Na Seung-yeop's two-run triple.
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| photo courtesy of Lotte Giants |
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NC escaped the 0 march in the bottom of the seventh inning with Davison's solo shot. However, it was regrettable that he only added one more point on the second and third bases with no outs made by Kim Hui-jip's double.
Lotte sent Park Seung-wook, who got on base with a double in the top of the eighth inning, to third base with a sacrifice bunt by Information Geun, and Jang Doo-sung's missed hit added one more run. Ko Seung-min's two-run home run was then added to lead the game to 9-2.
Park Jin in the bottom of the eighth inning and Kim Kang-hyun in the bottom of the ninth inning took the mound and finished the game without additional runs.
lunarfly@sportschosun.com
