Baseballs are round. The Lotte Giants showed off their fire bats and escaped a cliffhanger.
Lotte won the second game of the midweek series against the NC Dinos 6-3 at Sajik Stadium in Busan on April 2.
With the victory, Lotte snapped a four-game losing streak that began against the KIA Tigers on March 28. At a time when they were down to seventh place, they have set a turning point to show their ‘8chiol’ (rise in August). It also maintained its 6-4 head-to-head advantage over NC.
It was an unforgettable day for the 11,444 Busan baseball fans who attended the game. The atmosphere before the game was different. Lotte was mired in a four-game losing streak, and its main players, including catcher Yoo Kang-nam and pitchers Ahn Chi-hong and Na Kyun-an, were out with injuries.
On top of that, the NC starting pitcher was Pedi, who was called a “talented KBO pitcher” and the best pitcher of the year. He had started the previous 17 games, posting an impressive 14-2 record with a 1.74 ERA. Barnes, the Lotte starter, had also been on a good run since July, but the difference in weight was significant.
The batting order has also been a problem, with the team relying heavily on rookie Kim Min-seok and second-year player Yoon Dong-hee, the latter of whom was sidelined with a minor muscle soreness ahead of the game.
Before the game, Lotte manager Larry Sutton said, “Our goal is the Korean Series, not just the postseason. If we can win 5 games in August and give it our all in the remaining games, I’m confident we can get to where we want to be.” It was an uncharacteristically confident tone for a manager on a four-game losing streak.
Lotte cracked Pedi’s dominance in the bottom of the second inning. In the first inning, Jeon Jun-woo, Lee Jung-hoon, and Park Seung-wook led off with three consecutive singles. In the second inning, a wild pitch scored a run.
However, Barnes, who had dominated the NC bats with an unhittable slider until the second inning, suddenly faltered. Two batters later, he gave up a single to Son Asub, a wild pitch, and an RBI single to Kwon Hee-dong.
Lotte put runners on first and second in the bottom of the inning with back-to-back singles by Kim Min-seok and Goodrum, but they were unable to score a run in center field. In the top of the fourth inning, Barnes gave up two runs. It seemed like a replay of the previous day’s game, when the team took a 3-0 lead only to lose 6-3.
Unexpectedly, 메이저사이트 it was the infield that changed the game. In the bottom of the fourth inning, with runners on first and second, he hit Pedi’s second pitch, a curveball, over the left field fence for a grand slam. It was a moment of dizzying intersection between Jung’s majestic serenity and Pedi’s hesitation.
Maybe he was tired of the heat. Two batters later, Pedi gave up a double to Kim Min-seok and a single to Goodrum. He left the mound after four innings, breaking his own records for fewest innings pitched in a game this season (previously five), most runs allowed (previously three), and most hits allowed (previously seven).
Barnes, on the other hand, stayed on the mound through multiple crises. He threw 109 pitches for six innings of three runs on three hits.