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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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Successive runs as if he was possessed, and turning over with consecutive runs as if he were possessed by the opponent. Lotte Giants caught KT Wiz 'An enemy' and wowed 14,000 Busan baseball fans.
Lotte won the game against KT Wiz 7-5 at Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 4th. The game, which began with the perfect march of the starting pitchers of both teams, ended with a midsummer night turnaround. For Lotte, he seems to have given KT a shot, which has been holding him back at every crisis.
With the victory, Lotte recorded its 57th win (63 losses and 3 draws), approaching fifth-place KT by two games, burning its aspiration for the first postseason in seven years since 2017.
On the other hand, KT lost for the 64th time (62 wins and 2 draws) and failed to return to the 50% winning rate. KT, which has risen from the winning margin of -14 at the beginning of the season to fifth place as usual, is facing fierce challenges from other five-tier competitors unlike previous years.
The ranking table to the third place is relatively solid, but from the fourth-place Doosan Bears to the ninth-place NC Dinos, it is literally a major battle.
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| photo courtesy of Lotte Giants |
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| photo courtesy of Lotte Giants |
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On this day, Lotte was in the lineup of Yoon Dong-hee (center fielder), Ko Seung-min (second base), Son Ho-young (third base), Reyes (right wing), Jeon Joon-woo (left wing), Jung Hoon (designated hitter), Na Seung-yeop (first base), Park Seung-wook (striker), and Son Sung-bin (catcher). The starter is Wilkerson.
KT faced off with Rojas (right wing), Kim Min-hyuk (left wing), Jang Sung-woo (fosu), Hwang Jae-gyun (third base), Moon Sang-cheol (first base), Kang Baek-ho (designated hitter), Kim Sang-soo (second base), Bae Jeong-dae (middle fielder), and Shim Woo-joon (striker). The first choice is Benjamin.
Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung said, `I'll play the rest of the season thinking it's a short-term game," he declared an all-out war. He predicted active pinch hit and pinch runner appointment to pitcher replacement.
KT manager Lee Kang-chul was worried about the young ace, Cho Hyung-joon, who suffered repeated injuries while waiting for him to return. As I reached the 5th round, I dreamed of advancing to the Korean Series again.
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| photo courtesy of Lotte Giants |
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| photo courtesy of Lotte Giants |
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Before the game, Wilkerson's son threw the first pitch and Barnes' daughter took the batter's box, entertaining both teams' squads and fans.
It was a march of zero at the beginning of the game. Lotte failed to target Benjamin and KT failed to target Wilkerson at all. The two pitchers did not allow them to get on base side by side and continued their perfect march together.
Lotte made the first crack. After two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning, Son Ho-young hit a triple on the right wing line. However, he failed to score due to a failed follow-up.
If you miss an opportunity, there will be a crisis right away. Lotte Wilkerson's perfect march ended with KT Kang Baek-ho's heavy hit with two outs in the fifth inning.
Lotte center fielder Yoon Dong-hee's error came out when the next batter, Kim Sang-soo, hit to the left, and in the meantime, Kang Baek-ho dug home and gave up the first run. Confused, Wilkerson later allowed consecutive hits as if possessed. Bae Jeong-dae, Shim Woo-joon, and Rohas' three consecutive doubles followed, and in an instant, 4-0.
The next batter, Kim Min-hyuk, allowed six consecutive hits, but center fielder Yoon Dong-hee managed to finish the inning by catching Rojas with a home pitch of atonement.
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| photo courtesy of Lotte Giants |
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Lotte recovered one run in the bottom of the fifth inning with Jung Hoon's double and Park Seung-wook's timely hit. In the top of the sixth inning, KT Jang Sung-woo's heavy hit and the next batter Oh Yoon-seok's bunt fly ball almost collided with Wilkerson and third baseman Son Ho-young. Lotte shortstop Park Seung-wook's error came out when Moon Sang-chul grounded out the next batter, and Lotte Bench replaced Wilkerson.
The replacement of the pitcher was a success. The next pitcher, Jin Hae-soo, caught Kang Baek-ho with a ground ball for the pitching class, and the third pitcher, Kim Sang-soo, grounded out KT Kim Sang-soo to the third base and passed without a run.
And Lotte's counterattack began in the bottom of the seventh inning.
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| photo courtesy of Lotte Giants |
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Leading hitter Reyes got on base with a heavy hit, and Jeon Joon-woo followed with an RBI double in left-center.
KT put in Kim Min, a must-win team, but this time it was KT's turn. Jung Hoon's double, Na Seung-yeop's timely hit to the right, second base stolen base, Park Seung-wook's hit, and Junghoon Lee's timely hit followed, and Lotte quickly turned the game around 5-4.
KT put in third pitcher Kim Min-soo, but Lotte added one more run due to KT third baseman Oh Yoon-seok's error following Park Seung-wook's stolen base. With the bases loaded with one out, Reyes, a clean hitter, hit a sacrifice fly to center field to widen the gap to 7-4.
In the top of the eighth inning, Koo Seung-min finished with a three-way exit. Kim Won-joong, who took the mound in the top of the ninth inning, gave up one run with Bae Jeong-dae's timely hit with two outs and a wild pitch, but struck out the last batter, Ahn Hyun-min to end the game.
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| photo courtesy of Lotte Giants |
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lunarfly@sportschosun.com
