Professional baseball Lotte Giants achieved 8 consecutive victories and climbed to the top of the Korean Professional Baseball (KBO) league. Lotte completed 4 consecutive winning series with an unstoppable rise, and by far stood at the center of the KBO league box office this season.
Lotte won a 5-3 reversal in the second game of the season against Kiwoom Heroes in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League held at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on the 30th. Lotte achieved 8 consecutive wins since the KIA Tigers match on the 20th, and stood tall at the top of the league for the first time this season. It is only 4705 days since June 12, 2010 that Lotte has achieved 8 consecutive wins, and it is only 3950 days since July 7, 2012 (excluding the 5 consecutive wins at the start of the 2020 season) that it has risen to the top of the season alone.
From the beginning of the game, Lotte took the lead by scoring against Woo-Jin An, the league’s best fastball pitcher. Lotte scored one point each against Ahn Woo-jin in the second and third innings, lightening the shoulders of starting pitcher Han Hyun-hee.
In the second inning, An Chi-Hong got a walk and laid the groundwork for Lotte to score. Afterwards, Lotte created a chance to secure the first and third bases with An Woo-jin’s wild throw and Han Dong-hee’s infield hit. Lotte took the lead with an outfield sacrifice fly by Ahn Kwon-soo in a situation with one company loaded. In the third inning, Lotte succeeded in scoring for the second time with consecutive hits from Jeon Jun-woo and Ahn Chi-hong after two outs.
Lotte allowed a reversal in Kiwoom 5 times. Starter Han Hyeon-hee, who had been fighting well until the 4th inning, including 3 strikeouts, entered the 5th inning and gave a hit to Kim Hye-seong, the 2nd hitter, and then gave the 4th and 5th hitters consecutive doubles and allowed a 2-2 tie. Han Hyun-hee handed over the mound to left-hander Kim Jin-wook in a two-out situation at the beginning of the 5th inning and went down.
Kim Jin-wook, who has been positioned as the key pitcher in Lotte’s winning streak this season, allowed Kiwoom’s 7th hitter Park Chan-hyeok a double that slipped past the third base line and allowed a 2-3 comeback. However, Kim Jin-wook treated the follow-up hitter as a fly-out and did not concede any additional runs. Kim Jin-wook got on the mound again in the 6th inning and handled three batters without conceding.
However, Lotte succeeded in reversing in the 7th inning, as the fans wished to ‘forget how to lose’. Lotte created a chance to score 1st and 1st and 2nd bases with consecutive hits by Kwon-Soo Ahn and Min-Seok Kim in 2nd. He came and made a tie.
Lotte’s solution was Rex. In the 7th inning with 2 out and 2 base, Rex hit a large double to the right side of the line and scored the final 1 RBI, a timely hit, and succeeded in a 4-3 reversal. Then, Jeon Jun-woo, the 5th hitter, made an assault ball to the 1st base and called Rex, who was on the 2nd base, back to the home and ran away with a score of 5-3.
Lotte, who succeeded in reversing, started the 8th inning. On the mound, Koo Seung-min, a key resource of Lotte Gyetujo, went up. Koo Seung-min allowed one hit, but he turned the follow-up batters over without allowing a run and blocked it in the 8th inning. In Lotte, ninth inning finisher Kim Won-joong finished the history of 8 consecutive wins by neatly cooking three batters.메이저사이트
Lotte had a pleasant 8-game winning streak and won 14-8 (0.636 win rate), surpassing SSG Landers (0.625 win rate) with a 15-9 record and rising to first place alone in the KBO League. This is the first time in 11 years since July 2012.
Lotte coach Larry Sutton thanked the fans who filled Sajik Baseball Stadium. Coach Sutton raised his thumbs up, saying, “The players’ strong fighting spirit and the energy of the fans who made the game full were added to bring us victory,” adding, “The Lotte Giants players and fans are really amazing.”
Lotte will move to Gwangju on the 1st and play three consecutive away matches against the KIA Tigers from the 2nd to the 4th.