“The hitters stayed focused until the end”
The Lotte Giants snapped a two-game losing streak with a 13-5 victory over the KT Wiz in the seventh game of the 2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, South Korea, on Monday. With the win, Lotte blasted KT Mound and evened the three-game midweek series at one game apiece.
After falling to their knees in a fierce offensive battle the day before, Lotte’s outlook on the 19th was not much brighter. Na Gyun-ahn, who had been demoted to the second team after a string of poor performances, was still struggling to regain his form after giving up four runs (four earned) in five innings against the NC Dinos in his first game back. Moreover, the opposing starting pitcher was Ko Young-pyo, known as the “Lotte Killer”. Ko has been very strong against Lotte, going 8-4 with a 2.47 ERA in 25 career meetings.
However, it was not easy to predict the outcome of the match until the lid was lifted. Lotte pounded Go Young-pyo relentlessly from the start of the first inning. After back-to-back singles by Hwang Sung-bin and Go Seung-min in the first inning, the Lions took the lead when Son Ho-young extended his hitting streak to 29 games, the fourth-longest in KBO history. Victor Reyes, Na Seung-yeop, and Choi Hang combined for four more runs, with Reyes once again coming through as the “fixer” in the second inning when Hwang Sung-bin singled.
Of course, it wasn’t a one-sided game. After escaping a bases-loaded jam in the first inning, Na Gyun-an gave up three consecutive singles to Oh Jae-il, Jang Sung-woo, and Hwang Jae-gyun in the bottom of the fourth, and then gave up RBI singles to Bae Jae-dae and Mel Rojas Jr. to pull within 6-4. The game then began to take a strange turn, as Lotte activated their bullpen early on, with Koo Seung-min, Jin Hae-soo, and Kim Sang-soo taking the mound to try to keep the KT bats quiet and keep the momentum going. The bats responded again.
In the top of the eighth inning, LOTTE scored four runs on RBI singles by Na Seung-yup and Hwang Sung-bin 안전놀이터 and capitalized on an opponent error to take the lead, and in the top of the ninth inning, a pinch-hit triple by Kim Dong-hyuk, the first of his career, was followed by another KT error and a big blast by Yoon Dong-hee. LOTTE then shut the door after starter Na Gyun-ahn (5 innings, 4 runs) with Koo Seung-min (1 inning), Jin Hae-soo (⅔ innings), Kim Sang-soo (1⅓ innings), Hyun Do-hoon (1 run), and Park Jin (1 inning).
At the plate, Son Ho-young led the way for Lotte, going 1-for-4 with a home run, one RBI and one run 바카라사이트 추천 scored, followed by Hwang Sung-bin with three hits, one RBI, two runs scored and one stolen base, and Victor Reyes with two hits, three RBI and one run scored, Seung-yeop Na went 2-for-4 with a double, two RBIs, one run scored, and a walk, and Koo Seung-min, Jin Hae-soo, and Kim Sang-soo came up big in what could have been a slippery slope.
Coach Kim Tae-hyung said after the game, “In the beginning of the game, the opponent’s starting pitcher tried to work the count, and the hitters were able to capitalize on the balls that came in and score runs. The batters remained focused until the end, and we were able to score a lot of runs in the second half to win the game,” said Kim.