Lotte, a professional baseball team, rose to first place after defeating its “distribution rival,” SSG.
Lotte won 7-5 in the home game against SSG of the ‘2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League’ held at Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 19th. The previous day, they had two consecutive victories, including a 7-3 away win against Hanwha.
Lotte, who had 22 wins and 12 losses, regained first place in three days. Lotte, with a win rate of 60407, beat Hanwha 3-1 in the home game, and was 0.5 behind LG (25 wins, 14 losses, win rate 60410), but was ahead in winning percentage. SSG was pushed to third place, 0.5 games behind LG with 24 wins, 14 losses and 1 draw.
Right-hander starter Park Se-woong reported his first win of the season with a good pitching of 6 innings, 6 strikeouts, 6 hits, 3 walks and 1 run. Park Se-woong, who had only 1 loss in the previous 6 games, showed signs of rebounding by making his first quality start (3 earned runs in 6 starting innings) by digesting the longest innings of the season on this day following 1 run in 5 innings against kt on the 12th.
On the other line, Noh Jin-hyeok led the attack with 2 hits, 2 RBIs and 1 run, including a wedge double in the 8th inning. Ahn Chi-hong and Park Seung-wook helped each other by recording 3 hits, 1 RBI and 1 run each.
At the end of the first inning, Lotte took the lead amid the hunting of opponent starter Park Jong-hoon. First hitters Kim Min-seok and Ahn Kwon-soo, who are newcomers to the storm, went to base with consecutive walks, then advanced to the second and third bases with wild throws, respectively. Then, when An Chi-hong grounded to first base, Kim Min-seok stepped on the groove.
SSG also tied the game in the top of the 4th inning with consecutive hits by Guillermo Heredia and Hanyu Island. However, in the 1st, 1st and 2nd bases followed by Park Se-woong, Oh Tae-gon and Lee Jeong-beom were caught with a hit and tied.
As Park Se-woong endured, the batting line also responded. At the end of the 4th inning, Jeon Jun-woo made a 2 to 1 lead with an infield grounder on second and third base. Lotte, who scored 1 run in the 5th inning with Park Seung-wook’s double and Yoon Dong-hee’s hit, outmaneuvered the opponent with a double steal in the bottom of the 6th inning with 1 out, 1st and 3rd base, and ran away 4 to 1.
In the bottom of the 8th inning, with a 4-2 lead, he hit a wedge. Roh Jin-hyeok hit a sweeping double that hit the right-middle fence from 1st, 1st and 2nd bases, which was created by Koh Seung-min’s walk and An Chi-hong’s left-handed hit. Park Seung-wook also hit a double and ran away to 7-2.안전놀이터
From the 7th inning onwards, Seungmin Koo, Seungmin Lee, Taeyeon Lee, and Sangsoo Kim started operating Pilseungjoo to keep the score difference. However, in the top of the 9th inning, 6th pitcher Shin Jeong-rak was hit by a 3-run home run by Choi Jeong, leading to a 2-run chase.
However, finisher Kim Won-joong struck out Heredia and Hanyu Island in a row, and the game was over. Kim Won-joong tied for second place with Doosan Hong Kun-hee with 9 saves in the season. The first place is SSG Seo Jin-yong with 16 saves.
On the 20th, Lotte will challenge Dan Strayley as a starter to win three consecutive victories. SSG is aiming for a counterattack with left-handed ace Kim Gwang-hyun.