The Lotte Giants fell into a quagmire of two consecutive losses with a fatal baserunner. The momentary lack of concentration at the game caused the defeat.메이저놀이터
Lotte lost 2-7 in Game 16 between the teams against the Samsung Lions of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on the 6th. Following a 2-12 defeat by KT Wiz on the 5th, it suffered a bitter taste of defeat for two consecutive games.
Due to the loss, Lotte remained in eighth place with 57 wins, 65 losses and three draws. The gap has widened to 0.5 games with the seventh-ranked SSG Landers (60 wins, 67 losses and one draw), which had no match on the day. The team is now two games behind the sixth-ranked Hanwha Eagles (60 wins, 64 losses and two draws).
Lotte’s starting pitcher Kim Jin-wook kept Samsung’s batting lineup scoreless through the fourth inning. At the bottom of the first inning, Son Ho-young’s sacrifice fly scored the first run and gained the upper hand.
Lotte, however, failed to score a full base chance with no outs in the bottom of the second inning, runners on first and third bases with two outs, and one out in the bottom of the third inning. It gave Samsung an excuse to fight back as it failed to run away.
Lotte eventually allowed the team to come from behind in defense in the top of the fifth inning. Starting pitcher Kim Jin-wook, who had been playing well, drew a walk to leadoff hitter Kim Ji-chan and an RBI triple to Lee Jae-hyun to tie the score 1-1. At that time, the score was overturned 1-2 when Lee Jae-hyun scored due to a throwing error by the Lotte fielders.
Lotte replaced the pitcher with Na Gyun-an when Kim Jin-wook was hit to the right by Koo Ja-wook. He thus blocked additional runs and fought back in the bottom of the fifth inning. However, the score widened to 1-5 after Na Gyun-an had a hit to the midfielder by Park Byung-ho and a three-run homer by Lewin Diaz.
Lotte made up for a point with Captain Jeon Joon-woo’s timely RBI with two outs and a runner on second base in the bottom of the fifth inning. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Oh Seung-hwan, the oldest member of Samsung, took the mound at the start of the inning, and Yoon Dong-hee’s hit and Park Seung-wook’s walk gave him a chance to get on the first and third bases with no outs.
Although pinch hitter Junghoon Lee’s well-hit ball was caught by a fly ball to the right field, second baseman Yoon Dong-hee moved to the third base after the tag-up, allowing one out and runners on the first and third bases. If Lotte scores here, it would have been possible for the team to come from behind through a bullpen session with Samsung after the middle of the game. During Hwang Seong-bin’s at-bat, the Lotte bench used a tactic to deploy veteran right-handed hitter Jeong Hoon.
However, Lotte’s offense ended in vain in the bottom of the sixth inning. As first baseman Park Seung-wook was caught in check by Samsung left-hander Lee Sang-min, things got twisted. Park tried to touch the base with headfirst sliding, but failed. Samsung’s first baseman Park Byung-ho was not tagged out, resulting in a rundown situation. As Park was eventually tagged out, Lotte lost one out count.
The problem was the next scene. Third baseman Yoon Dong-hee penetrated home while Park Seung-wook was caught on a rundown, but was tagged out. Samsung’s second baseman Lee Yang-geun threw the ball home accurately, but it was too much to seek home ground at third base due to timing.
Lotte Giants infielder Park Seung-wook was left disappointed when he was hit with a fatal base run in the bottom of the sixth inning in Game 16 between his teams against the Samsung Lions of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan. Photo by Lotte Giants
Lotte paid a hefty price for the team, which ended up scoreless in the bottom of the sixth inning. The mood completely shifted to Samsung. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Lotte gave two more runs to Samsung, which collapsed.
On the other hand, Samsung overcame the crisis that faced at the same time as the bullpen was operated with Lotte’s base running without difficulty and solidified its winning streak in the middle of the game.
Lotte’s defeat on this day should be considered to have collapsed because the opponent did not do well on his own. In the bottom of the sixth inning, with one out and runners on the first and third bases, the first baseman did not have to take the lead much due to the flow and timing of the game. It is a result theory, but a momentary misjudgment dominated the entire game.
One of the reasons Lotte failed to advance to the postseason for six consecutive years until last year was the lack of detail at the venue of the game. The losses accumulated as Lotte self-destructed due to errors, baserunning and bonehead plays were hampered.
In order not to repeat such failures this year, Lotte is aiming for the fall baseball season with all its might until the end of the second half. The entire team needs to work hard in the remaining 19 games. Losing because you can’t play games on your own will inevitably cause more damage.