The Lotte Giants, led by manager Kim Tae-hyung, pulled out of a long, long eight-game losing streak with a two-hitter. They swept the LG Twins and set the stage for an escape from the bottom of the standings.
Lotte defeated the LG Twins 9-2 in the third game of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Monday. The victory snapped a nine-game losing streak that began against the Sajik Samsung Lions on Sept. 9 and marked their first win in nine games.
Lotte paved the way for the victory with Park Se-woong, who pitched six innings of four-hit ball with one walk, three strikeouts and two runs (one earned). Park threw 81 pitches, including a fastball that topped out at 150 kilometers per hour, a slider, and a curveball, to effectively shut down the LG bats.
Park quickly bounced back from his previous outing against the Gochuk Kiwoom Heroes on April 12, when he allowed seven runs (six earned) on 11 hits, one home run, two walks, and one strikeout in four innings. With his second win of the season in hand, he was feeling good and ready for his next start.
The Lotte bats did their part as well. Leadoff hitter Yoon Dong-hee paved the way for the offense with five hits, three doubles, two RBIs, and one run scored. Hwang Sung-bin also had a breakout performance, going 2-for-5 with a double, two runs scored, and a stolen base.
Foreign hitters Victor Reyes had one hit, two RBIs and two runs scored, Jeon Jun-woo had one hit, one RBI and two runs scored, Jung Hoon had one hit and one RBI, and Son Ho-young had two hits, one run and one stolen base. It was also positive to see all the starters hit for the first time this season.
The bullpen shut down LG's resistance neatly. Super rookie Jeon Mir pitched 1⅔ innings with two strikeouts and no 안전놀이터 runs, and Choi Jun-yong pitched 1⅓ innings of scoreless relief to securely lock the back door.
"Our starting pitcher Park Se-woong pitched well, and Jeon Mir and Choi Jun-yong did a good job closing the game," said Kim Tae-hyung after the game. "Our batting has been a little stagnant, but today we showed our bats by getting hits from all of our starters," said Kim.
"Our players are always trying their best in every game. I'm glad we were able to break the losing streak with a win today," said the coach, "and I'd like to thank our fans for coming out to support us on a weekday when the team wasn't doing well."
Lotte remains at the bottom of the standings with a 5-16 record, but snapping the losing streak is significant. The team quickly shook off the disappointment of tying the game 5-5 in the top of the ninth inning after falling behind 3-5 the previous day, only to be knocked to their knees in the bottom of the ninth inning by a bad pitch from closer Kim Won-joong.
The pressure is now off Lotte as they move to Anbang Sajik to take on ninth-place KT Wiz in a three-game weekend series starting on the 19th.
Lotte, meanwhile, will look to build on their momentum and sweep KT Wiz in their first meeting of the 2024 season on April 19. They will start foreign pitcher Charlie Barnes and aim for a second straight win.
