6⅔ inning lone pitch’ glasses ace senses victory
“When (Jeon) Mir came down in the seventh inning, I thought we were going to win.”
The Lotte Giants of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) won 6-3 against the SSG Landers at Sajik Stadium in Busan on Friday. The Giants improved to 8-17-1 on the season after bouncing back from an upset loss the day before. It was difficult to get back on track, but they are slowly rebounding.
On this day, Lotte had a lot of pressure on starter Park Se-woong. With most of their top pitchers, including Choi Jun-yong and Kim Sang-soo, depleted the day before, he had to pitch as many innings as possible.
And Park was up to the task. Park threw 40 fastballs, 34 sliders, 24 curveballs, and eight forkballs, topping out at 149 mph on the day, effectively shutting down SSG hitters.
It wasn’t without its ups and downs. But he kept it from escalating by limiting it to sporadic hits.
In the second inning, he gave up a leadoff double to Heredia over the right-field fence, but struck out Park Sung-han and Ko Myung-joon in succession. A wild pitch put runners on second and third, but Lee got Lee Ji-young to ground out to second base to end the threat.
In the third inning, Choi Ji-hoon’s bunt was not handled properly. A bad throw to first base put runners on first and second, but Choo grounded out to second and Choi flied out to right.
He gave up a single to Heredia with one out in the fourth, but retired the next two batters. He retired the next seven batters in a row until the bottom of the sixth inning.
However, in the bottom of the sixth, he gave up back-to-back singles. After giving up a double to Han Yoo-seom, he gave up back-to-back singles to Heredia and Park Sung-hwan. Two runs scored. It was 4-2.
The 4-2 lead remained intact as the bats failed to capitalize on a bases-loaded opportunity in the bottom of the sixth. Park Se-woong, who threw 88 pitches in the sixth inning, took the mound in the seventh.
Lee Ji-young led off with a single to left field. However, he gave up a walk to Choi Kyung-mo. Choi Ji-hoon flied out to center field, but gave up another single to Choo Shin-soo, putting runners on first and second with no outs. He was unable to close out the seventh and handed the ball over to Jeon Mir. Jeon gave up a big hit to Choi Jung, but he got out of the jam when he flied out to center field. Jeon secured the win for Park Se-woong.
After the game, Park said he could feel the victory coming. “Yesterday, the bullpen made a tough 토토사이트 decision and I thought it was important for the starting pitcher to take the mound with a sense of responsibility,” Park said.
“I think it would have been a burden on the bullpen and it would have been a plus for the team if I had closed it out cleanly and handed it over to the bullpen,” he said, adding, “If I left the bases loaded and the pitcher changed, it would have been a burden on any middle reliever. He did a good job of keeping us out of that situation, so I think that’s why we got a good result today and why I thanked him.”
“When Mir got out of the seventh inning with runners on first and second, I thought we were going to win comfortably,” he said. After Jeon’s seventh-inning save, Lotte added two more runs on a solo shot by Jeong Hoon and an RBI single by Son Ho-young.
It was Park Se-woong who snapped an eight-game losing streak and overcame the shock of a 7-4 deficit the day before. “It’s harder when you’re in a losing streak, so I went to the mound thinking that I wanted the team to win,” he said. “I have good memories of breaking the losing streak and winning the next time,” he said, adding that he hoped the team would get back into the winning mood.