This season, the Lotte Giants, the team with the least base base, told Kiwoom Heroes, the team with the most base base, 안전놀이터 how they scored. And at the center was Noh Jin-hyeok (34), the ‘old sword’.
Lotte won Kiwoom 2-0 in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League regular season away game held at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 26th. Lotte, who had two consecutive wins, maintained a two-game gap with the leader SSG Landers with 25 wins and 15 losses. On the other hand, Kiwoom, who suffered three consecutive losses, stayed in 8th place with 19 wins and 26 losses.
Prior to the game on this day, Lotte was the league’s least remaining base (287) team. He brought in as many runners as he had sent out by the focused batting line (182 points, tied for 4th in the league). On the other hand, Kiwoom was the team with the most left bases (371), scoring only 170 points (8th in the league) while sending out many runners. The team colors of the two teams with opposite tendencies continued on this day as well.
Lotte starter Dan Strayley achieved 2 wins (4 losses) in the season with 3 hits, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts and no runs in 6 innings. In the batting line, the feeling of hitting in the lower batting order exploded. Roh Jin-hyeok (2 hits in 3 at-bats, 1 walk, 1 run and 1 base) made a crack in the tight pitching battle, and Park Seung-wook played an active role with 2 hits in 3 at-bats and 1 RBI, including the final hit. Han Dong-hee and Yoo Kang-nam each scored one hit, but scored a valuable extra point by pulling out long hits in 7 consecutive innings.
On the other hand, Kiwoom starter Ariel Hurado had 7 hits, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts, 2 runs in 7 innings, and 6 losses (3 wins) of the season despite pitching a quality start plus (7 innings or more, 3 earned runs or less). The batting line, which had a total of 5 hits, including multi-hits by Kim Jun-wan and Lee Ji-young, was savage.
May 26 Kiwoom-Lotte starting lineup
Lotte: Kim Min-seok (center fielder) – Ahn Kwon-soo (left fielder) – Jeon Jun-woo (designated hitter) – Ahn Chi-hong (1st baseman) – Ko Seung-min (right fielder) – Noh Jin-hyeok (shortstop) – Han Dong-hee (3rd baseman) – Yu Kang-nam (catcher) – Park Seung-wook (2nd baseman) baseman) formed the batting line. Starting with Dan Strayley.
Kiwoom’s batting order was Kim Joon-wan (left fielder) – Kim Hye-seong (2nd baseman) – Edison Russell (shortstop) – Lee Won-seok (designated hitter) – Lee Ji-young (catcher) – Park Jun-tae (right fielder) – Kim Hwi-jip (3rd baseman) – Lim Ji-yeol (1st baseman). knitted The starting point is Ariel Furado.
The peculiarity of this day was that Kim Jun-wan, who was called up to the 1st team, was placed forward 1, and Lee Jung-hoo, who had been playing 1 all the time, returned to the original batting order, 3. Prior to the game, Kiwoom coach Hong Won-ki said, “Kim Jun-wan recently received a report from the Futures that everything, including performance and on-base percentage, was good. The current team’s batting line is going through a slump, so I registered as the lead hitter in the hopes that it would be of some help.” Then, he hoped, “Lee Jung-hoo should eventually raise the RBI in the cleanup. If he does it in the 3rd like last year, the batting line will come to life.”
Lotte coach Larry Sutton said, “I want to tell Strayley to do his best and fight hard. In fact, I want to tell all players, not just Strayley.”
Tight pitcher’s battle → 5th inning of crisis, Hurado collapsed and Strayley endured
Strayley lived up to Sutton’s expectations 100%. Strayley, who gradually got out of the slump with an average ERA of 5.82 in April and an average ERA of 3.12 in May, allowed only one on-base up to 5 innings against Kiwoom’s other lines that day. In the top of the first inning, lead hitter Kim Jun-wan’s right-handed hit was all. After that, he continued his streak of 12 batters including 6 strikeouts.
In the end, Kiwoom Hurado collapsed first. Hurado gave up two hits and a walk until the 4th inning, but was recording no runs through effective pitching with 50 balls. However, ‘Lotte’s special prosecutor (special prosecutor)’ Noh Jin-hyeok broke through. Noh Jin-hyeok, who started as the lead batter in the 5th inning, hit Hurado’s curve and made a double in the middle left. Han Dong-hee sent it to third base with a sacrifice bunt, and Park Seung-wook brought Roh Jin-hyeok home with a hit to center left. Lotte’s 1-0 lead.
Strayley had his first crisis. In the bottom of the 5th inning, Lee Ji-young went to base with a heavy hit and Kim Hwi-jip hit a left fielder with 1 out, making it 2 out and 1st and 2nd base. However, Lim Ji-yeol was grounded to third base on the first pitch and finished the fifth inning without a run. Strayley allowed Kim Hye-sung and Lee Jung-hoo to walk consecutively in the 6th inning, but struck out Russell on a swing and grounded Lee Won-seok to 3rd base, completing the 3rd quality start of the season (6 innings or more and 3 earned runs or less). The total number of pitches was 93, and the highest speed was 148 km per hour.
The Kiwoom lineup that didn’t explode in the end, Lotte allowed up to 3rd base
After starting Kiwoom, Rado gave up one more point in the last inning. In the 7th inning, with one out, Han Dong-hee hit a double in the middle right, and Kang-Nam Yoo hit the ball in the middle right of the outfield at the Gocheok Dome. Yoo Kang-nam was out at second base, but it was enough time for second base runner Han Dong-hee to home. After catching Park Seung-wook’s bunt ball himself, Rado threw to first base and finished the 7th inning with 7 balls. 7 innings, 2 runs, it was the 7th quality start pitching of the season. The total number of pitches was 91 (27 two-seam fastballs, 18 four-seam fastballs, 15 changeups, 12 curveballs, 12 slubs, 7 cutters), and the highest velocity was 150km/h.
However, Kiwoom’s batting line failed to clear Hurado’s requirement for a losing pitcher. Kim Sang-soo (7 times) – Koo Seung-min (8 times) – Kim Won-joong (9 times) took the mound one after another and kept Lotte’s victory with no runs. Kim Sang-soo became the 11th player in KBO league history to record 110 holds, and Kim Won-joong made 11 saves in the season. From Kiwoom’s point of view, it was regrettable that he could not make use of both opportunities at the end of the 7th inning with 1 company on 3rd base and at the end of the 8th inning with 2 companies on 1st and 2nd base.