Lotte and Kim Won-joong, who destroyed 10.7 billion natural enemies, successfully completed 3G in a row!'8:0 → 2:9 → 7:9' New wins. KT's weekend winning → Jump to 8th place

Aug 11, 2024

photo courtesy of Lotte Giants

Lotte Giants jumped to 8th place by destroying Ko Young-pyo (KT Wiz) again.

In Game 3 of the weekend series against KT at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on the 11th, Lotte made a home run by Reyes and Yoon Dong-hee, four hits and six RBIs, Son Ho-young and Jeon Jun-woo

On a hot summer night, 13,805 baseball fans enjoyed a cool water festival at the Suwon site and a baseball game like 'thin ice'.

On this day, Lotte played in the lineup of Hwang Sung-bin (center fielder), Ko Seung-min (second base), Son Ho-young (third base), Reyes (left wing), Na Seung-yeop (first base), Jeon Joon-woo (designated hitter), Yoon Dong-hee (right wing), Park Seung-wook (striker), and Son Sung-bin (catcher). The starting pitcher is Wilkerson.

KT faced off with Rojas (right wing), Kang Baek-ho (designated hitter), Jang Sung-woo (fosu), Oh Jae-il (first base), Kim Sang-soo (second base), Kim Min-hyuk (left wing), Bae Jung-dae (middle fielder), Shin Bon-ki (third base), and Shim Woo-joon (striker). The starting pitcher is Ko Young-pyo.

Ko Young-pyo is a traditional Lotte natural enemy. Since his debut, he has taken the mound in 25 games (starting 14) against Lotte until last year, recording 8 wins, 4 losses and an ERA of 2.47. In particular, he tied Lotte's batters with three wins and no losses in four games and an ERA of 0.93.

Director Lee Kang-chul encourages Ko Young-pyo. Reporter Jung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2024.7.18/

This year, the atmosphere has changed in the opposite direction. Ko Young-pyo was sluggish with an 8.44 ERA in the previous two games against Lotte. Even on this day, which was the third face-off, it collapsed with 12 hits and eight runs (seven earned runs) including two homers during four innings, and the relationship with Lotte seems to have turned into a bad relationship.

On this day, Lotte won the game by hitting Ko Young-pyo from the beginning. Hwang Sung-bin's triple in the top of the first inning, Son Ho-young's timely hit after one out, Reyes' double and Jeon Jun-woo's two-run timely hit followed to take the lead in three runs at once.

In the top of the third inning, starting with Reyes' solo shot (No. 11) over the center field fence, Jeon Joon-woo's hit and Yoon Dong-hee's 120m two-run shot over the left-hand side quickly widened the score to 6-0.

photo courtesy of Lotte Giants

Lotte added Son Ho-young's hit, Reyes' double, and Na Seung-yeop and Jeon Jun-woo's consecutive sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth inning to run to 8-0 at once. In particular, the initial decision at the time of Jeon Joon-woo's sacrifice fly was declared a tagout for the runner Reyes at home, but the video reading declared catcher Jang Sung-woo's violation of the home collision prevention law and changed it to safe.

In the end, Ko Young-pyo finished the fourth inning with 92 pitches and went down the mound.

photo courtesy of Lotte Giants

However, KT's counterattack began at the end of the fourth inning. Wilkerson, who was pitching well in the first to third innings, allowed KT Kang Baek-ho to hit. Jang Sung-woo's double to the left and Oh Jae-il and Kim Min-hyuk's timely hit followed the two runs.

Lotte added one more run in the top of the sixth inning with Na Seung-yeop's timely hit following Son Ho-young's double, but Yoon Dong-hee and Park Seung-wook struck out one after another in a follow-up chance with Jeon Joon-woo's hit and an opponent's wild pitch.

And that regret soon turned into anxiety. Lotte put in Kim Sang-soo in the bottom of the sixth inning when Wilkerson's pitch reached 96 by the fifth inning.

With consecutive hits by KT Kim Sang-soo and Kim Min-hyuk, Kim Sang-soo gave up one run after hitting a timely hit by Shim Woo-joon with two outs and runners on the first and third bases.

photo courtesy of Lotte Giants

KT's bat became hotter in the second half of the game. Jin Hae-soo, who was put in in the bottom of the seventh inning, allowed Jang Sung-woo a solo shot, and again allowed Kim Sang-soo to hit, and was replaced at first base with two outs.

However, Kim Kang-hyun allowed a hit to Kim Min-hyuk and a two-run timely hit to Bae Jeong-dae. Lotte allowed a chase to 6-9.

In the end, must-win group Han Hyun-hee was put in. Han Hyun-hee took a breather by hitting Shim Woo-joon with a ground ball in the crisis with two outs and runners on the first and second bases.

The crisis continued in the bottom of the eighth inning. Lotte Bench put in Koo Seung-min, a must-win group, but Rojas, the first batter, hit a double to left-center. It was the moment when Rojas had 150 hits (12th in KBO history) for four consecutive seasons and KT had all the starters' hits.

Photo description=Lotte Giants

In the following two outs and runners on the first and second bases, Kim Won-joong finally fell to 'Long Hair Finish'. Kim Won-joong, who failed to keep his team's victory in five consecutive games, finished the game as precarious in the last two games.

He allowed Kim Sang-soo, the first batter, to make a timely hit to the left, allowing him to chase to 9-7. The next batter, Kim Min-hyuk's walk loaded the bases, but he finished the eighth inning by catching Bae Jeong-dae with a fly ball to right field.

Kim Won-joong was hit near his ankle by the first batter Park Min-seok's ground ball in the ninth inning. I calmly grounded out.

Kim Won-joong struck out Shim Woo-joon and Rohas in a row to end the game, silencing the bench's concerns.

lunarfly@sportschosun.com