The Lotte Giants played 3 consecutive games in Gwangju, a nightmare. Lotte, which gave up all of the series helplessly in “Triple High School,” fell to 7th place.
Lotte lost 3-6 in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League away game against the KIA Tigers held at the Gwangju-Kia Champions Field on the 30th. Lotte, who gave up both previous games, took a bus back to Busan with a three-game losing streak.안전놀이터
Han Hyun-hee (30), who started as a starter two days after starting the pitching due to a sudden injury to Na Kyun-an (25), the previous starter, gave up 1 run in 4 innings. Afterwards, Lotte, who gave up 5 points in the 6th and 7th innings and was killed by confirmation, was unable to bring the game to the end even in the last chase.
In this way, Lotte recorded a season win rate of 0.477 (41 wins, 45 losses), giving up 6th place to KIA, which had been ahead in win rate without riding until the day before, and fell to 7th place. Lotte ranked 7th for the first time in 101 days since April 20th. Also, from the point where he last climbed to third place (June 13), he fell four steps in just 47 days.
For Lotte, it was not a matter of simply being swept in this three-game series. Inside the game, the collapse of the mound and defense, and the empty hitter were problems, and outside the game, injury issues continued, and I had a difficult time.
July 28th (Fri) 5:6 loss – collapsed even with Park Se-woong in front, couldn’t get on the flow due to a decisive mistake
Lotte, which had no winning series in July, recorded 2 wins and 1 loss against Doosan in Jamsil, held from the 25th to the 27th, and saved the calm atmosphere. Accordingly, Lotte came down to Gwangju with a light heart. The fact that the starting pitcher was ‘local ace’ Park Se-woong also played a role.
However, Lotte gave the flow from the beginning of the game. Especially at the end of the first inning, third baseman Han Dong-hee committed an error in Kim Seon-bin’s 6th at-bat and gave up two runs that he didn’t have to give. Park Se-woong, who was shaken, was hit with a RBI and timely hit by Kim Do-young in the 4th inning, and after one out in the 5th inning, Choi Hyung-woo and Socrates Brito were hit with doubles in a row, so he was beaten without completing the 5th inning.
Lotte Han Dong-hee.
On this day, the batting line was also not strong. Except for Nico Gudrum, a foreign hitter with 2 hits and 4 RBIs, and Jeong Hoon, who had 3 hits in his return match after injury, no other players have performed so well. In the attack in the top of the 6th inning, after Goo Drum went out on a walk, Jeon Jun-woo retreated with a double hit, and the next hitter An Chi-hong got another 4 pitches, but pinch hitter Lee Jung-hoon struck out.
Injuries also got in the way. Yoo Kang-nam, who started as the designated hitter in the 6th inning that day, felt discomfort in the left oblique muscle while swinging in the second at-bat in the 4th inning, and was eventually replaced by pinch hitter Lee Jung-hoon in the attack at the beginning of the 6th inning. After being diagnosed with an internal oblique muscle injury as a result of a hospital examination, Yoo Kang-nam was eventually excluded from the first-team entry the next day, and is expected to leave the front line for about 2 to 3 weeks.
July 29th (Sat) 1:4 loss – 2 players left injured in one inning, couldn’t win even if we tried to win
Prior to the game on the 29th, Lotte had difficulties in forming the lineup as homeroom host Yoo Kang-nam was missing. In addition, in the defense at the end of the second inning, second baseman An Chi-hong (back sick during swing) and first baseman Jeong-hoon (wrist bruise during defense) were replaced one after another and suffered from the evil spirit of injury. Meanwhile, Han Dong-hee, who was watching third base, moved to first base.
The scoring process was also similar to the previous day. At the end of the 4th inning, Lotte starter Lee In-bok caused a crisis by sending out Na Seong-beom (right-handed hit) and Choi Hyung-woo (walk) in succession. Lee In-bok induced Socrates to ground 5 times, but Han Dong-hee, who came out as first baseman, failed to hit the bound properly and made a mistake. Lotte, who was safely driven to second and third base, gave up two more runs on sacrifice flies by Kim Seon-bin and Park Chan-ho, and only gave up three runs in the fourth inning.
At the end of the 5th inning, there were no additional runs except for Na Seong-beom’s solo shot, but KIA starter Yoon Young-cheol was blocked with 1 hit and no runs in 6 innings and struggled with empty hits. Except for one point in the 7th inning, Lotte was helplessly defeated as they could not counterattack.
July 30th (Sun) 3:6 Lose – 3 consecutive losses that could not be prevented in the end despite the early introduction of the winning group
Lotte, driven by a sweep loss crisis, called up outfielder Ahn Kwon-soo, who had elbow surgery in early June, to the first team. It was originally scheduled to return in early August, but it came up faster than expected amidst the team’s circumstances with many injuries. Ahn Kwon-soo took to the ground for the team even though his arm was not in perfect condition.
However, Na Kyun-ahn, who was supposed to start the game even before the game, went down to the second team due to a hamstring injury, and Han Hyun-hee, who had starting experience, threw 21 pitches two days ago and started as the starting pitcher. However, there was also a limit, and eventually went down the mound after 52 pitches in 4 innings. Lotte had a superpower by putting Pil Seung-jo and Koo Seung-min in the 6th inning, but gave up the flow by giving 2 points.
On top of that, the bat remained silent, unable to post even a single point until the 7th inning that day. In the second half of the game, Jung Hoon recorded a solo home run in the 8th inning and a timely hit in the 9th, and Lotte scored 3 runs at the end. However, Lotte eventually failed to catch KIA’s tail and ended the three-game sweep.