Lotte Giants lose a game they could have had. A misjudgment by a foreign player led to a late comeback.
Lotte lost the second game of their 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League doubleheader against the NC Dinos 5-6 on September 9 at Changwon NC Park.
토스카지노After winning the first game 5-2, Lotte was unable to extend its winning streak. On the other hand, NC, playing in front of a packed home crowd for the first time in four years, avenged the first game loss and prevented Lotte from winning the “Nakdong River Derby” series.
Lineup for Game 2 of the Lotte Giants-NC Dinos doubleheader on September 9th
- Lotte Giants: Yoon Dong-hee (center fielder)-Jung-hoon Jung (first baseman)-Ahn Chi-hong (designated hitter)-Jeon Jun-woo (left fielder)-Yoo Kang-nam (catcher)-Han Dong-hee (third baseman)-Nico Goodrum (second baseman)-Lee Hak-joo (shortstop)-Go Seung-min (right fielder). The starting pitcher is Han Hyun-hee.
- NC Dinos: Son Asub (designated hitter)-Seo Ho-cheol (third base)-Park Min-woo (second base)-Jason Martin (center field)-Kwon Hee-dong (left field)-Oh Young-soo (first base)-Kim Joo-won (shortstop)-Chun Jae-hwan (right field)-Park Dae-on (catcher). The starting pitcher is Choi Sung-young.
After winning the first game of the doubleheader, Lotte benched many of its starters, including Kim Min-seok, Lee Jung-hoon, Noh Jin-hyuk, and Park Seung-wook. On the other hand, NC, who rested their starters in the final minutes of the first game, kept most of their players in the second game except for Park Gun-woo and Kim Hyung-joon.
Lotte, with ‘substitute starter’ Han Hyun-hee, takes unexpected lead thanks to Jeon Jun-woo’s two-run shot
Lotte’s Jeon Jun-woo hits a two-run home run in the first inning of the second game of a doubleheader against the Changwon NC on April 9.
Lotte took the lead in the first inning. In the top of the first inning, Yoon Dong-hee led off with a single to center field, but was thrown out at the plate for a failed steal. However, Ahn Chi-hong walked and Jeon Jun-woo hit his 14th home run of the season over the left field fence to score the first two runs.
NC answered right back. In the bottom of the second inning, NC put runners on first and second with a walk to Kwon Hee-dong and a single to Oh Young-soo up the middle off of Han Hyun-hee, who came on in relief. Kim Joo-won then singled through the first baseman’s side to bring home the second run.
In the top of the third inning, however, Lotte put runners on first and third with no outs after back-to-back singles by Yoon Dong-hee and Jeong Hoon and a throwing error by the pitcher. In this situation, Jeon Jun-woo, who hit a home run in the first inning, drove in a run with a single up the middle, and Yoo Kang-nam was hit by a pitch to give Lotte a 4-1 lead.
Lotte’s Jeon Jun-woo hits an RBI single in the third inning of the second game of a doubleheader against the Changwon NC on Sept. 9.
Both teams get off to an early start, but the game goes down to the wire
Lotte’s Han Hyun-hee walks down the mound in the third inning of the second game of a doubleheader against the Changwon NC on April 9.
NC’s Choi Sung-young walks down the mound in the second inning of the doubleheader against Lotte in Changwon on Monday.
Lotte’s unexpected dominance of the game turned into an up-and-down affair as the starting pitchers went down. In the bottom of the third inning, NC scored a run on an infield single by Son As-seob, followed by a double down the left field line by Park Min-woo, who advanced to third on a replay error and scored on Martin’s sacrifice fly. Kwon Hee-dong and Oh Young-soo followed with consecutive singles, forcing the Lotte bench to pull starter Han Hyun-hee from the mound after just 2⅔ innings.
NC, who needed to win the second game, also pulled their starter early. In the top of the fourth inning, starter Choi Sung-young recorded two outs but gave up a double to Ko Seung-min, prompting the NC bench to bring in right-hander Kim Si-hoon early to prevent the fire from spreading. Both teams remained quiet until the top of the sixth inning.
Goodrum’s ‘worst decision’ turned a potentially game-tying inning into an upset
Lotte’s Nico Goodrum.
Trailing 3-4, NC rallied in the bottom of the sixth inning. After leading off the inning with a double off Lotte’s third pitcher, Jin Seung-hyun, Kim Joo-won followed with a single to right field to put runners on first and third with no outs. NC then brought in Park Gun-woo to pinch-hit, and Lotte responded with veteran Shin Jeong-rak.
Shin struck out Park Gun-woo on a wild swing with his main weapons, a big-angle curveball and fastball. He then induced the next batter, Choi Jung-won, to ground out to the second baseman. It was a bit of a slow pitch, so it was hard to pick it off, but it could have been either a runner at first or a runner on base.
However, Gudrum, the second baseman who caught the ball, threw home instead of to first or second. It looked like he was trying to compete with Oh Young-soo instead of the speedy Kim Joo-won or Choi Jeong-won, but he couldn’t make the throw immediately after the catch, so he deflected it to the side. In the end, Oh Young-soo came home and NC tied the game.
NC’s Seo Ho-cheol celebrates after hitting a two-run single in the bottom of the sixth inning during the second game of a doubleheader against Changwon Lotte on Sept. 9.
A shaky Shin Jeong-rak gave up a walk to Son As-seob to load the bases, then gave way to Seo Ho-cheol for a two-run single to right field. In an instant, the game had turned into a 6-4 NC lead.
Lotte was not without its chances to fight back. In the top of the seventh inning, LOTTE had the bases loaded with back-to-back singles by Yoon Dong-hee and Jung-hoon and a walk by Ahn Chi-hong. Jeon Jun-woo followed with a sacrifice fly, but in the process, Ahn Kwon-soo, the pinch runner, was tagged out trying to get to third base. A video review ensued, but no change was made.
In the end, Lotte was unable to find a clue in the remaining two innings and lost the game.