Will the three-year relationship with the evil enemy be broken? The Lotte Giants have already defeated the “giant killer” Ko Young-pyo (33) three times this season.
Lotte won 9-7 against KT Wiz at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on the 11th in the away game of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League regular season.메이저놀이터
With the victory, Lotte ended the three consecutive games in Suwon with a winning series (2-1), and is now 3.5 games apart from fifth-ranked SSG Landers. The two teams have tied the game with six wins, six losses and one draw. KT, which lost for two consecutive games, failed to advance to a 50% win rate again.
On the day, Lotte’s bat caught fire from the first inning. Leading hitter Hwang Sung-bin immediately hit a triple at the first pitch, and No. 3 Son Ho-young scored a timely hit after a game of eight pitches to score the first run. With two outs and runners on the second and third bases, Jeon Joon-woo hit a double that fell in the middle of the right and scored a 3-0 run.
Lotte’s scoring streak didn’t end here. In the top of the third inning, Victor Reyes, the first batter of the inning, hit a solo shot over the middle to add another run. Then even No. 7 Yun Dong-hee hit a two-run homer over the left fence, and Lotte instantly made the score 6-0.
In the top of the fourth inning, Lotte also scored its eighth run with consecutive sacrifice flies by Na Seung-yeop and Jeon Joon-woo on the second and third bases with no outs made by Son Ho-young’s Reyes’ consecutive hits.
Lotte, which had already taken the lead early on, faced a crisis as its bullpen was shaky in the mid-to-late half of the game. However, Kim Won-joong, who made multi-inning saves, managed to secure the lead by pitching cleanly to make three outs and throw innings for the first time in a long time, and ultimately won the game.
From Lotte’s point of view, he not only won but also successfully targeted Ko. Ko suffered severe defeat in four innings on the day by allowing 12 hits, one out, two strikeouts and eight runs. Both the number of hits and runs lost was one shy of the personal record. His earned run average for this season also rose vertically from 4.71 to 5.58.
Including the game on the day, Ko appeared in three games against Lotte this year, but has shown sluggish performance with two losses and an earned run average of 11.05 without a win. During 14 ⅔ innings, he had as many as 33 hits (hitting rate of 0.446) and allowed 18 runs. This is almost half of Ko’s total number of runs (38 points) for this season.
At the Suwon game on June 19, which was his return match after injury, Ko allowed nine hits, four strikeouts and six runs in five innings against the Lotte Giants. At that time, he gave up six runs through the second inning, but allowed no runners on base through the third to fifth innings except for one hit. At the Sajik game on July 12, his first game in the second half of the season, he also allowed 12 hits, six strikeouts and four runs in five ⅔ innings. He had many hits at the time, but his innings and runs went smoothly. However, at the third meeting, Ko collapsed against the Lotte Giants.
KT Ko Young-pyo pitches against Suwon Lotte on June 19.
What’s surprising is that Lotte did not have enough strength against Ko until last year. Since his debut in the first division in 2015, Ko has had eight wins, four losses and an earned run average of 2.47 in 25 games (14 starts) against Lotte until last season. After being discharged from the military, he had five wins and two losses with an earned run average of 0.98 and two walks and one homerun in 64 innings.
The secret lies in left-handed hitters’ good performance. Ko, whose main weapon is change-up, once was stronger against left-handed hitters when his ball was good. However, he has failed to display his previous pitching capabilities this year, and left-handed hitters are taking advantage of this opportunity to bomb him. At the Lotte Giants, switch-hitter Reyes (eight for 10 with one homer), Hwang Sung-bin (six for nine), Ko Seung-min (three for 10), and Na Seung-yeop (two for seven) targeted Ko.
On top of that, right-handed hitters Jeon Joon-woo (five hits and one homer in six at-bats) and Son Ho-young (three hits in six at-bats) also swung hard to help left-handed hitters. As a result, he showed strength against his natural enemies.
Of course, it should also be taken into account that Ko Young-pyo is not in normal condition yet. In early April, he failed to appear in the first team for more than two months due to micro-damage to his right elbow flexion. Even after returning, he is showing signs of ups and downs, raising concerns.
However, as Lotte successfully targeted Ko Young-pyo three times in a season, it can now deal with the team with confidence. Regardless of future results, it can be said that Lotte has earned this.