The Lotte Giants suffered a shocking loss to the LG Twins. Not only did they lose the elimination game, but also their fifth consecutive dominant series (two or more wins in three games).
Lotte lost 8-9 in the third game of a three-game series against LG in the 2024 KBO League on Saturday at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul.
Starting pitcher Aaron Wilkerson pitched six innings of three-run ball. At the plate, Son Ho-young, who is chasing a streak, shined. He hit a tiebreaking single in the fourth inning and followed it up with a three-run homer in the fifth. In the seventh inning, when the score was tied at one, a four-run big inning was created in a messy situation with fielding errors.
However, the bullpen of Koo Seung-min, Kim Sang-soo, and Kim Won-joong failed to protect the five-run lead in the eighth and ninth innings. In the bottom of the 10th inning, Kim Do-gyu drew a bases-loaded walk and gave up a game-tying sacrifice fly to Shin Min-jae.
After a scoreless second inning, Wilkerson gave up a leadoff single to Moon Sung-ju in the top of the third and then back-to-back singles to Kim Hyun-soo and Austin Dean.
The offense immediately tied the game. In the top of the fourth inning, leadoff hitter Go Seung-min singled to left off LG pitcher Lee Sang-young and Son Ho-young followed with a single to center to open the scoring. Son extended his hitting streak to 27 games, passing Kim Ki-tae (former KIA Tigers manager) for fifth place on the all-time list for consecutive games with a hit. With four more games, he will tie the team record of 31 games held by Lotte legend Park Jung-tae. In the bottom of the inning, Victor Reyes walked and Na Seung-yeop singled.
Son’s hot hitting continued in her next at-bat. In the top of the fifth inning, with the score tied 1-1, leadoff hitter Yoo Kang-nam and Yoon Dong-hee each drew walks to put runners on first and second. The No. 2 hitter, Ko Seung-min, flied out to left field, but Son Ho-young followed with a three-run home run over the left field fence off LG pitcher Kim Dae-hyun. He pulled a six-pitch forkball for a huge home run that traveled 120 meters.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, LOTTE surrendered two runs when Wilkerson was hit by a pitch. In the top of the seventh, Hwang Sung-bin-pyo dominated the field. With the bases loaded and nobody out, he tried to get out of the way of a bunt, but the ball hit the knob of his bat and hit him in the right ankle. Unable to get up for a while, Hwang Sung-bin took a few steps before stepping back up to bat, and in the ensuing at-bat, he singled.
Lotte’s next at-bat was a bunt single by Yoon Dong-hee. The ball traveled down the right field line and looked like it was going to cross the foul line, but it trickled along the inside, and first 카지노사이트 순위 baseman Austin Dean was late to catch it and make the out. In the meantime, both Yoo Kang-nam and Hwang Sung-bin, who was on second base, used their quick feet to score.
LOTTE kept the scoring chances alive when Go Seung-min grounded out to second base and shortstop Koo Bon-hyeok, who was handling Son Ho-young’s hit, made a throwing error. Reyes followed with a double to center field, and Na Seung-yeop drove in another run with a grounder to make it a four-run inning.
It was all Lotte up to this point. But in the bottom of the eighth, the bullpen faltered on defense and gave up two runs. With one out, they brought in closer Kim Won-joong. After striking out Kim Hyun-soo in the ensuing at-bat, Kim gave up a single to Austin to cut the deficit to 6-8 and two runs. However, he struck out the next batter, Kim Bum-seok, on a forked ball to put out the fire.
But he couldn’t get over the hump. In the bottom of the ninth, Kim Won-joong gave up a single to pinch-hitter Ahn Ik-hoon and then, one out later, a double to left-center to Shin Min-jae. He then grounded out to Hong Chang-ki to load the bases, but Moon Sung-joo followed with a single to right to tie the game at 8-8.
In the top of the 10th inning of extra innings, Lotte was unable to change the momentum as Na Seung-yup, Park Seung-wook, and Choi Hang retired the side in order. In the bottom of the 10th, Kim Do-gyu took the mound and gave up a double to Moon Bo-kyung, a walk to Heo Do-hwan, and a balk to Kim Joo-sung to load the bases. Park then struck out Hae-min Park, but gave up a single to left field to Shin Min-jae, allowing Kim Dae-won to score the tying run.
Lotte, which had come from behind six times in a 4-hour, 55-minute, 9-8 victory the day before, gave up the game-winning run in Game 3. It was LG’s third straight loss in three games this season. The bleeding seems even worse because the bullpen collapsed at the end of the game when the momentum of victory was soaring.