Lotte Giants coach Larry Sutton is evolving the team with ‘strong baseball’. Coach Sutton is leading the team to the top ranks by overturning the game of Korean professional baseball this season with detailed strategy baseball, not baseball that relies on long hits.
On the 18th, Lotte won 7-3 in the 5th game of the season against the Hanwha Eagles at Daejeon Hanwha Life Insurance Eagles Park, ending their 3-game winning series with a winning series. Following Doosan Bears (2 wins and 1 loss) and KT Wiz (2 wins and 1 loss), Lotte achieved 3 consecutive winning series with 2 wins and 1 loss to Hanwha.
In the game, Lotte won a pleasant victory in the harmony of pitching, including Han Hyun-hee’s 6 innings, 1 hit and no run, ‘Super Rookie’ Kim Min-seok’s first professional home run, and Noh Jin-hyuk’s 3rd home run of the season. For three days starting on the 19th, Lotte will play 3 home matches against No. 1 SSG Landers at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan.
Lotte shook the Hanwha mound with pitching harmony and detailed tactical baseball that was not easily found in the other line last season. Coach Sutton, coach Kim Pyeong-ho on base and first base, and coach Jun-ho Jeon on outfield and third base confused the Hanwha defense team by instructing operations on the ground without rest.
Lotte led 1-0 with Kim Min-seok, who came out as the lead batter in the first inning, hitting the first professional home run over the right fence. For Lotte, second batter Ahn Kwon-soo and third batter Ko Seung-min reached base with a hit and a walk in front of the left fielder, respectively, and had a chance to score on first and second base safely.
In Lotte, fourth hitter Ahn Chi-hong, the center of the team’s offense, entered the plate. An Chi-hong is the central hitter who ranks 3rd in RBI (18 points) on the team this season. It was a situation where he could entrust the blow to An Chi-hong, who had good long hitting power. An Chi-hong was in good condition as he got no hits in all of his first at-bats in the previous two games.
However, coach Sutton instructed Ahn Chi-hong to bunt on the first pitch. An Chi-hong’s bunt floated high behind the catcher and became a foul, but Hanwha Battery showed a lot of embarrassment. An Chi-hong also tried to bunt Hanwha pitcher Min-jae Jang’s second ball, giving the pitcher a sense of tension. An Chi-hong tried another bunt and eventually succeeded in sending second base runner Ahn Kwon-soo to third base.
Afterwards, Lotte succeeded in taking the lead at the beginning of the game by scoring one more point with a big outfield sacrifice hit by hitter Han Dong-hee, number 5. It was the moment Sutton’s strong baseball shined.토토사이트
Manager Sutton’s tactical baseball shone once again in the 7th inning. Manager Sutton and Jin-hyeok Noh completely destroyed the defensive shift of the Hanwha infield defense team and succeeded in getting on base.
At the beginning of the 7th inning, with 2 out and 1st base, left-handed hitter Noh Jin-hyeok entered the plate. The Hanwha infield defense vacated third base and shifted to the right in consideration of the batting characteristics of Noh Jin-hyeok, who has a high hit rate between 1st and 2nd base. Veteran Noh Jin-hyeok assumed a normal batting stance, but switched to a bunt stance and bunted Hanwha pitcher Kim Ki-joong’s first pitch toward third base. The Hanwha defense team had no choice but to watch as Noh Jin-hyeok arrived at first base comfortably. Hanwha even changed the pitcher to reverse the atmosphere when Noh Jin-hyeok reached first base. Lotte allowed Hanwha 3 runs at the end of the 9th inning, but won the game 7-3 without losing control of the game.
Meanwhile, on the 19th at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan, Lotte will face off against No. 1 SSG Landers. Lotte was only able to play one game due to rain in three consecutive matches against SSG in Incheon last April. Lotte will once again challenge for first place by winning at least one more victory against SSG in this three-game series. Manager Sutton puts forward Park Se-woong, a ‘local ace’, as the starting pitcher. In SSG, Park Jong-hoon will start.