7th Place Lotte Wins by One Point Over 6th Place Doosan
7th Place Lotte Wins by One Point Over 6th Place Doosan in the First ‘Monday Game’ of the Year
The Lotte Giants defeated the Doosan Bears and maintained their glimmer of hope for advancing to fall baseball.
Lotte won 4-3 in the home game against Doosan in the professional baseball 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League held at Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 4th.
7th place Lotte chased 6th place Doosan by 3.5 games.
The two teams, who were unable to play on the 1st and 2nd due to rain, faced each other on this day in accordance with the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO)"s policy for the remainder of the season, which decided to schedule games canceled on Saturday or Sunday on Monday.
This is the first time this year that a game was played on Monday, a day off for the KBO League.
The two teams played a fierce game, as if representing the intense attention of baseball fans.
Doosan took the lead.
Lotte starter Park Se-woong allowed a dominant solo shot to the opposing team"s lead hitter, Jeong Soo-bin, in the top of the first inning.
The batted ball passed by the foul pole, and the umpires recognized it as a home run after reviewing the video.
Lotte immediately turned the game around.
With one out in the bottom of the first inning, Lee Jeong-hoon, Ahn Chi-hong, and Jeon Jun-woo hit Doosan starter Raul Alcantara with three consecutive hits, creating an opportunity to load the bases.
Afterwards, Nico Goodrum hit a timely hit to right with 2 RBIs, and Jinhyuk Noh hit a timely hit to right field with 2 RBIs to make it 4-1.
Lotte starter Park Se-woong was 1.2 with 2 outs in the bottom of the second inning and allowed no runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning with 2 outs and a runner on first base, but was allowed to catch up in the 4th inning.
Park Se-woong gave up a walk to lead hitter Kim In-tae and a left-field hit to Heo Gyeong-min, putting him in danger with no outs at 1.2.
The follow-up hitter, Park Gye-beom, blocked the game with a grounder to shortstop, putting the runners on first and third base with one out.
Park Se-woong also guided Lee Yu-chan to a ground ball to third base, but Lotte third baseman Gudrum made a catching error and was unable to prevent third base runner Kim In-tae from scoring.
In the 5th inning with a 4-2 lead, pitcher Choi Jun-yong, who was replaced, hit a timely hit to the right by Kim In-tae on first and second base with one out and one out, allowing the team to chase by one point, 4-3.
The game was fierce until the end.
Lotte was in danger of tying the game when closer Kim Won-joong, who appeared on the mound in the 9th inning, gave up a walk to lead hitter Soo-bin Su.
Afterwards, he was hit by a clean right-handed hit from Jose Rojas, putting him on first and second base with no outs.
In a desperate situation, Kim Won-joong neatly blocked the follow-up batter.
He struck out Yang Seok-hwan on a missed swing, caught Yang Eui-ji with a fly ball to left field, and ended the game by striking out the last batter, pinch hitter Kim Jae-ho.
Lotte Jeon Jun-woo played well with 3 hits in 3 at-bats, 1 walk, and 1 run, and Noh Jin-hyuk also hit well with 2 hits in 4 at-bats and 2 RBIs.