The LG Twins’ winning streak came to a halt in the seventh inning. The most disappointing moment came in the eighth inning.
LG lost the 10th game of the season against the Samsung Lions of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League 4-5 at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on Thursday. Starting pitcher Lee Ji-gang pitched 5⅔ innings, giving up two runs on four hits (one home run) and one walk while striking out two, but the bullpen struggled to protect the lead. 꽁머니사이트
In the top of the eighth inning, something went wrong. With the score tied at 3-3, LG regained the lead in the top of the eighth with a solo home run by Kim Hyun-soo, but Shin Min-jae, the first baseman, was thrown out at second base on a throwing error by the pitcher. What could have been a two-run home run turned out to be a solo shot.
Desperate to tie the game in the top of the eighth, LG had a chance to put runners on second and third with Austin Dean’s single and Oh Jae-il’s throwing error. The problem came after that. On Moon Bo-kyung’s at-bat, pitcher Kim Tae-hoon was about to throw to second base when Jeong Joo-hyun, the third baseman, broke for home. Tae-hoon quickly realized this and threw the ball to the catcher for the rundown. Eventually, Jeong was tagged out, ending the inning. LG was forced to give up two unearned runs because of the mistake.
It was a disappointment for the manager as well. Before the 11th game of the season against Samsung on the 5th, LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop said with a bitter expression, “I lost sleep because of the disappointment.” “When Moon Bo-kyung was on second strike, I saw that there was a 20 percent chance of a hit and a 50 percent chance of scoring something on the basepaths,” he said. “We had to talk about the result anyway, but it was an ‘all or nothing’ game because we had to fight the odds.”
“If he was in good hitting form in the previous at-bat, it would have been fine, but at the time, I thought the probability of Moon hitting after two strikes was below 20 percent,” Yeom said, explaining why he ordered the players to bunt.
Another regrettable moment for Yeom was Yoo’s six-pitch slider in the bottom of the eighth inning on a 3-2 count with runners on second and third. The ball, which should have been outside, was driven up the middle, and Kang Min-ho, who didn’t miss the throw, hit a two-run double that turned the tide in Samsung’s favor.
Yeom said, “I was actually thinking a lot about whether to go for the automatic go-four when I had a full count, but then I remembered that Baek Seung-hyun struck out Kang Min-ho with a slider when he had a full count in a crucial situation. I wasn’t trying to win the game, I was just trying to get him to throw it away, and it went up the middle. It was a game-winner,” he said.
Meanwhile, LG’s lineup against Baek Jung-hyun is Hong Chang-ki (right fielder), Moon Sung-joo (left fielder), Kim Hyun-soo (designated hitter), Austin Dean (first baseman), Oh Ji-hwan (shortstop), Moon Bo-kyung (third baseman), Park Dong-won (catcher), Park Hae-min (center fielder), and Shin Min-jae (second baseman). The starting pitcher is Choi Won-tae.
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