The Lotte Giants defeated the Doosan Bears to keep their slim hopes of reaching the fall baseball season alive.
Lotte won 4-3 at home against Doosan in the Shinhan Bank SOL KBO Baseball League 2023 at Sajik Stadium in Busan on Thursday.
Seventh-place Lotte moved to within 3.5 games of sixth-place Doosan.
The two teams, which were unable to play due to rain on the first and second days of the season, met today in accordance with the Korean Baseball Organization’s (KBO) policy for the remainder of the season to schedule games canceled on Saturday or Sunday on Monday.
It was the first time this year that a game was played on a Monday, a day off for the KBO.
The two teams played a fierce game that reflected the focused attention of baseball fans.
Doosan scored the first run. Lotte starter Park Se-woong gave up a leadoff single to Jeong Soo-bin in the top of the first inning.
The ball sailed past the foul pole, and after a video review, the umpires ruled it a home run.
Lotte immediately turned the game around. In the bottom of the first inning, Lee Jung-hoon, Ahn Chi-hong and Jeon Jun-woo drew three consecutive walks off Doosan starter Raul Alcantara to load the bases.
Nico Gudrum followed with a two-run double to right and Noh Jin-hyuk followed with a two-run single to center to make it 4-1.
LOTTE starter Park Se-woong worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the second and a bases-loaded jam in the top of the third, but gave up a run in the fourth.
Park gave up a leadoff walk to Kim In-tae and a single to Heo Kyung-min with the bases loaded and no outs.
The next batter, Park Kye-beom, grounded out to the shortstop to put runners on first and third.
Park induced Lee Yoo-chan to ground out to third, but LOTTE third baseman Gudrum made a throwing error, allowing Kim In-tae to score from third.
In the fifth inning, with the score 4-2, reliever Choi Jun-yong lined a single to right field to score Kim In-tae with runners on first and second, cutting the deficit to 4-3.
The game remained tight until the end. 스포츠토토 In the ninth inning, Lotte’s closer Kim Won-joong gave up a walk to leadoff hitter Jung Soo-bin to tie the game.
He then gave up a clean single to right to Jose Rojas, putting runners on first and second with no outs.
With the game on the line, Kim Won-joong struck out the next batter.
He struck out Yang Seok-hwan on a wild pitch, got Yang Ji Won on a fly ball to left field, and struck out the final batter, pinch-hitter Kim Jae-ho, to end the game.
Lotte’s Jeon Jun-woo went 3-for-3 with a walk and a run scored, while Noh Jin-hyuk also hit well, going 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.
