The team is ranked last in team home runs, but there are some brothers who hit ‘one shot’.
The Lotte Giants are playing the first game of a weekend series against the KIA Tigers at Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 11th.
Lotte went into the game with the following lineup: Yoon Dong-hee (right field), Ahn Chi-hong (second base), Gudrum (third base), Jeon Jun-woo (designated hitter), Lee Jung-hoon (left field), Jeong Hoon (first base), Kim Min-seok (center field), Noh Jin-hyuk (shortstop), and Son Sung-bin (catcher). The starting pitcher was Aaron Wilkerson.
This is a right-handed batting lineup that blatantly targets KIA’s left-handed pitchers. Aside from Kim Min-seok, who has been hitting well lately, and Noh Jin-hyuk, who is a key part of the defense, the lineup is dominated by right-handed hitters, including switch-hitter Gudrum.
Along with SSG Landers, KIA has a unique left-handed lineup. Of their five starters, all but one (Mario Sanchez) are left-handed (Thomas Panoni, Yang Hyun-jong, Lee Yi-ri, and Yoon Young-chul).
As a result, Lotte is in desperate need of left-handed pitching whenever they face KIA. However, early in the season, the center of the batting order – Kim Min-seok, No Jin-hyuk, and Ahn Kwon-soo – was left-handed. The exception was on June 2, when Lee Hak-joo hit a grand slam off Yang Hyun-jong in a 14-2 blowout win.
But nearly 100 games into the season, it’s the right-handed hitters who are carrying the weight of the Lotte lineup. That’s because veterans like Jeon Jun-woo, An Chi-hong and Jung-hoon, as well as free agent catcher Yoo Kang-nam and rookie Yoon Dong-hee, are all right-handed hitters.
In the top of the first inning, with the bases loaded and the count 2-2, Ahn crushed a 144-kilometer fastball up the middle of Panoni’s 10-pitch at-bat, sending it over the left field fence. The Yoon-Dong-hee-Ahn duo forced Panoni to throw a whopping 17 pitches, and it paid off with Ahn’s single. It was Ahn’s second home run in as many games, having hit one the day before against Kiwoom.
Jeong Hoon, on the other hand, was blitzing. On a 1-1 count, he took a three-pitch, 118-kilometer curveball straight down the middle of the plate for a solo shot to left field.
Lotte was ninth overall among the 10 clubs with 45 team home runs (44 by Kiwoom) until the previous day. But it was the veteran right-handers who shined early in the game. Ahn Chi-hong hit a solo shot in the first inning and Jeong Hoon in the second against KIA starter Panoni. Ahn Chi-hong doubled in the third inning and followed it up with an RBI single in the fifth to give Lotte a 3-0 lead.
Jeon Jun-woo (10) leads the team in home runs and Yoo Kang-nam (6) is second. Ahn Chi-hong Han Dong-hee Rex (4) and Noh Jin-hyuk Jung-hoon (3) follow closely behind. Ahn Chi-hong and Jung-hoon added one each on the day, moving up the team’s rankings by one spot. 안전카지노사이트