The Lotte Giants of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) suffered a second straight shock loss in the distribution derby against the SSG Landers.
Lotte lost 5-8 to SSG of the 2023 KBO League on Sunday at SSG Landers Field in Incheon. After suffering a humiliating 1-12 defeat in the first game of the series the previous weekend, Lotte fell to a fourth straight loss.
In front of a sold-out crowd, Lotte’s hopes of snapping the losing streak were boosted by spectacles ace Park Se-woong, who pitched a perfect game, allowing just one run on three hits until the seventh inning.
The LOTTE bats also showed their mettle against opposing ace Kim Kwang-hyun, scoring three runs in the fifth inning. Yoo Kang-nam opened the scoring in the second inning with a leadoff double off Kwang-hyun, his first in 70 days, and added another run in the inning.
Lotte added two more runs in the sixth inning with Kim Kwang-hyun on the mound, taking a 5-1 lead into the seventh inning and raising hopes of snapping the losing streak.
However, once Park Se-woong went down, Lotte’s bullpen came up big. Kim Jin-wook, who took the mound as the team’s second pitcher, gave up back-to-back singles to pinch-hitters Kang Jin-sung and Ahn Sang-hyun before giving up a hard-hit ball to Choo Shin-soo to load the bases with no outs.
Substitute pitcher Koo Seung-min seemed to get some respite by getting Choi Ji-hoon to ground out to the pitcher, but gave up a single to Choi Jeong.
After giving up a grounder to Heredia that allowed Choo Shin-soo to score from third, Koo was replaced by Kim Won-joong, who gave up a single to Park Sung-ho.
Kim Won-joong gave up an RBI single to pinch-hitter Choi Joo-hwan to cut the deficit to one run. With the bases loaded, Kim Won-joong gave up a three-run double to Jeon Eui-san.스포츠토토
Shaken, Kim gave up a walk to Kang Jin-sung and a single to Ahn Sang-hyun before being replaced by Kim Sang-soo. The three pitchers who came up in the eighth inning to protect the four-run lead gave up a shocking seven runs.
After dropping the winning series, Lotte now has to worry about being swept. It would be quite a shock if they dropped the final game of the weekend series with Charlie Barnes on the mound.