The Lotte Giants resigned two days in a row and suffered a bitter two-game losing streak in front of a full crowd. The internal injury was bigger because he was defeated by SSG Landers, who competed for the lead in the league. Above all, it was a day when I felt the absence of pitching coach Bae Young-soo.
Lotte lost 5-7 against Sajik SSG on May 21st. Lotte, who suffered two consecutive losses with the loss that day, fell to third place in the league with 22 wins and 14 losses in the season. The gap between co-leaders SSG and LG Twins widened by two games.
It was a disappointing result of the weekend series because it was in the top position just two days ago. In the game on the 21st, Lotte showed a trend of being dragged in the beginning of the game. Starting pitcher Barnes allowed Choi Jeong to score a solo home run after two runs in the top of the first inning.
Even at the beginning of the 3rd inning, Barnes fell into a crisis with a walk and a hit after one out. In the end, he gave up an extra point after receiving consecutive timely hits from Heredia and Choi Joo-hwan. In the ensuing 1st, 1st and 3rd base crisis, Oh Tae-gon gave a sacrifice fly ball, widening the score to 1 to 4.
Lotte started a counterattack at the end of the 6th inning with Han Dong-hee’s 1st RBI double at the right time in the chance to get 1 out 1st and 2nd base created by lead batter Kim Min-seok’s double and Ahn Kwon-soo’s walk. Following this, Yoon Dong-hee’s one RBI and timely hit entered a two-to-four fierce pursuit.
With the additional score missed, the Lotte bench started an all-out war on the mound bullpen. From the 6th inning, Kim Jin-wook (0.2 innings), Kim Do-gyu (0.1 innings), Kim Sang-soo (1 inning), and Koo Seung-min (1 inning) raised all the winning pitches and suppressed additional runs until the 8th inning.
However, in the beginning of the 9th inning, trailing by 2 to 4, the Lotte bench placed left-hander Lee Tae-yeon, who played the role of the chasing team, on the mound. Lee Tae-yeon gave away a walk to Choi Ji-hoon and Choi Jeong, then hit a painful 2-RBI double at the right time by Heredia. The Lotte bench belatedly changed the pitcher to Shin Jeong-rak to prevent additional runs.
In a situation where the flow of the game was completely taken away with a score of 2 to 6, Lotte attacked the opposing finisher Seo Jin-yong at the end of the 9th inning. Taking advantage of Seo Jin-yong’s uneasiness in the ball, he took the opportunity to walk three batters in a row and safely load the bases. Kim Min-seok’s sacrifice fly ball led to a 3-to-6 chase, but the chase ended as Ahn Kwon-soo and An Chi-hong stepped back with infield ground balls in succession.메이저놀이터
Considering the chase atmosphere at the end of the 9th inning, as a result, the 2 extra runs given in the beginning of the 9th were painful. This is because the pressure the opposing pitcher receives is very different between the situation with no bases loaded in the 4-point difference and the bases loaded in the 2-point difference. Of course, it is a consequential assumption, but it was regrettable that the bench moved quickly to raise closer Kim Won-joong from the start of the ninth inning for the final pursuit inning of Sunday’s game or to replace Lee Tae-yeon at the plate of Erdiadia.
Perhaps it was the moment when Lotte pitching coach Bae Young-soo felt the void. Coach Bae was unable to participate in the game due to physical ailments. At the beginning of the season, Coach Bae is called the ‘icon of distrust’ by Lotte fans. This is because the team achieved better-than-expected team performance by maximizing bullpen baseball with a quick pitcher replacement centered on Coach Bae, even though the overall pitching index was not at the top of the league.
Lotte could not repay the enthusiasm of Lotte fans who filled Sajik Stadium with a full crowd for two days in a row with a victory. The vacancy of coach Bae, who has a large stake in the timing of the usual fast and aggressive pitcher replacement, was clearly felt on this day. Closer Kim Won-joong also felt more regret as he had plenty of pitching intervals over the past few days. Lotte is expected to seek a rebound with coach Bae Young-soo, who returned from the home series with the NC Dinos during the upcoming week.