The professional baseball SSG Landers faced the biggest crisis of the season. As they fell into the mire of six consecutive losses, even their winning rate collapsed.스포츠토토
SSG lost six games from the Gocheok Kiwoom Heroes match on the 19th to the Incheon Hanwha Eagles match on the 25th.
SSG, whose winning rate fell below 50% with 25 wins, 1 draw and 26 losses, fell to sixth place amid fierce competition for ranking.
He is six games ahead of the first-ranked KIA Tigers (31 wins, 1 draw and 20 losses), and two games behind the fifth-ranked NC Dinos (27 wins, 1 draw and 24 losses). The KT Wiz (23 wins, 1 draw and 28 losses), which is currently in seventh place, is also trailing the latter by two games.
The SSG has been agonizing over injuries and sluggish performance of its starting pitchers. The SSG’s starting ERA this season is 6.53, the lowest among the 10 teams.
During the losing streak, his ERA was disastrous with 9.62. He is also the lowest among the 10 teams during the same period.
As foreign pitcher Robert Duggar, who was recruited ahead of this season, was released while continuing his slump, and submarine pitcher Park Jong-hoon fell below expectations, the pre-season plan went awry.
While Drew Anderson, who was hired instead of Duggar, was still undergoing an adjustment period, there was even a bad news about his injury. Roenis Elias was out of the first-team entry on the 20th due to a side muscle injury, and was diagnosed with needing six weeks to recover.
The SSG starters were shaken as native ace Kim Kwang-hyun, who had to take the center stage in a difficult situation, suffered a slump since mid-April.
The substitute starter did not get any fun either.
In a match against the Doosan Bears in Jamsil on Monday, Lee Kun-wook had 10 hits including two home runs during four innings, and allowed eight runs, before collapsing. Song Young-jin, who started the match against the Doosan Bears in Jamsil on Sunday, allowed four hits, two walks, and six runs in one inning, before leaving the team early.
Oh Won-seok (4 runs in five innings) against Kiwoom on the 19th and Kim Kwang-hyun (1 run in six innings) against Doosan on the 22nd were the only starting pitchers who played more than five innings during the six consecutive losing seasons.
Early withdrawal by starting pitchers has led to overload of bullpen pitcher lineup. The SSG bullpen pitcher lineup has 223 ⅓ innings this season, the second largest number of innings after Doosan (227).
The bullpen also has some loopholes. Veteran left-hander Ko Hyo-joon has yet to return to the starting lineup after being sidelined by injury to his right hamstring on Feb. 6.
His pitches and offbeat beats were painful, too. He did not score particularly well in games where starting pitchers were good at.
In particular, Kim Kwang-hyun made a quality start (more than six innings and less than three earned runs) against Doosan on the 22nd, but lost 1-3 as the batters only gave up one point.
In the match against Hanwha in Incheon on Saturday, the bullpen showed good performance after Oh Won-seok left the mound early, but managed to garner only two runs even though the batters made 10 hits. Ultimately, the SSG lost 2-4.
During the period of six consecutive losses, the SSG batters failed to display strength in scoring capacity. During the period, the team ranked sixth with a batting average of 0.257, but the team was the lowest with a batting average of 0.209.
The return of the injured is also being delayed little by little.
Infielder Kim Sung-hyun, who was diagnosed with a microfracture after being hit by a ball thrown by an opposing pitcher against LG on April 21, is expected to return after mid-June.
Park Ji-hwan, a high school graduate who revitalized the batting line, suffered a microfracture (bone connecting wrist and finger) injury after being hit by a pitch against Hanwha on April 30, which is also expected to return after mid-June.
Ko Hyo-joon is also not yet able to throw the ball, so he is expected to return in early June.
There are also concerns of additional injuries. Choi Jeong, the flagship batter, was replaced in the match against Hanwha on Saturday as he felt pain in his shoulder. If he breaks out of the lineup due to poor test results, it will be a serious blow to SSG.
If the SSG, which is facing the biggest crisis amid fierce competition in the rankings, fails to overcome the crisis, it may be difficult to even defend the mid-ranked team. SSG desperately needs a rebound.