As a result, the ‘check swing’ judgment decided the flow of the game.
The match between Doosan and LG took place on the 16th at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul. LG won two days in a row in the confrontation on the 14th and 15th. Doosan, who has recently lost three consecutive losses, had the burden of not only escaping from the losing streak but also preventing a sweep defeat in the first confrontation of the season with LG. 안전놀이터
Head coach Lee Seung-yeop mentioned six mistakes made in the first and second games prior to the game on the 16th and said, “There were problems, but if something bad happens at the beginning of the season, it can be an opportunity to get your mind together. I never think negatively,” he said. I hope you will judge that it is a process of making, and I think it will definitely get better because there are many games in the future.”
In the early stage, where the score was 1-1, LG ran away with a home run in the middle. Park Dong-won hit a solo home run against Doosan starter Choi Seung-yong in the 5th inning, and Moon Bo-gyeong hit a two-run home run against Jeong Cheol-won in the 6th inning. They went ahead 4-1.
Doosan tried to catch up with Pil Seung-jo from the 1-point gap to block the run, but Jeong Cheol-won hit a home run and it didn’t work out as intended. LG put veteran Kim Jin-seong on the mound in the 7th inning following Lee Woo-chan and Park Myung-geun.
Kim Jin-seong got 2 outs with 2 fly balls. A hit to Su-bin Jung and a walk to Jo Soo-haeng made the team 2 out and 1st and 2nd base. Yang Seok-hwan at bat, Yang Seok-hwan struck out Kim Jin-seong on a swing in the 7th inning the day before.
Yang Seok-hwan watched 4 balls, and it became 2 balls and 2 strikes. On the 5th pitch, Kim Jin-seong threw his main weapon, a forkball, and Yang Seok-hwan tried to swing at the falling forkball, but stopped in the middle. Catcher Park Dong-won asked the first base umpire for a decision, and referee Lee Ki-joong spread his arms and ruled it a ‘north wing’.
It was a full count, and Kim Jin-seong threw a fastball. However, the pitch was misplaced high in the middle, and Yang Seok-hwan swung like a thunderbolt and hit a three-run home run that tied the score and went over the left wall. It was a decisive shot to excite the stagnant Doosan dugout.
After the game, Yang Seok-hwan talked about how he prepared for Kim Jin-seong’s main weapon, the forkball. He said, “Because it’s a full count, I didn’t hit anything that came low, and I wanted to be a (minimum) foul for anything that came high. I thought that they would compete with me because there were better hitters behind me. I think that goal matched well.”
Also, the strikeout the day before helped. Yang Seok-hwan said, “I was preparing for that ball because I made a miss on the same ball yesterday. I kept missing my favorite course in the front at-bat, so I prepared more confidently.”
He had the mindset that he had to hit the minimum number of hits to reverse the atmosphere, but the best result, a home run, came out. Yang Seok-hwan laughed, saying, “It was nice to create the best situation and change the atmosphere.”
Kim Jin-seong, who had an ERA of 0 in six games after the opening, shook his head with a home run. If the forkball had been ruled wrong, the joys and sorrows of LG and Doosan would have been mixed.
In the 8th inning, Doosan, with 2nd out and 2nd base, Ahn Jae-seok hit LG Jung Woo-young’s high two-shim with 2 strikes and turned it into a 5-4 with a timely hit. After that, Sagu and Sue-Bin ran away with 2 RBIs and 3 bases. With two outs and bases full, a wild throw and Yang Eui-ji’s two RBIs and doubles led to a 10-4 score.