The Lotte Giants have shown themselves to be strong at the top and weak at the bottom in the last two weeks.
The Giants won their first home game of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League regular season 13-4 against the NC Dinos at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on April 2.
On the day, Lotte’s “Glasses Ace” Park Se-woong didn’t last more than five innings. However, right-hander Choi Yi-joon came in to pitch 2 1/3 innings of one-hit ball, striking out four and walking none. Meanwhile, trailing 2-4 with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth inning, Lotte rallied with a seven-run big inning, highlighted by a three-run double from pinch-hitter Kim Min-seok and a two-run homer from Ko Seung-min, his first career grand slam.
LOTTE added three more runs in the seventh on a three-run homer by Son Sung-bin and an RBI single by Kim Dong-hyuk in the eighth to put the game out of reach. With third starter Choi Jun-yong shaky, veteran Kim Sang-soo pitched a clean eighth inning, including two strikeouts, to keep the junior off the board. In the ninth, closer Kim Won-joong, who hadn’t pitched all week, came in and pitched one inning of relief.
Lotte finished the three-game home series against the NC with a 2-1 win and a split. After winning the first game 13-5 behind a strong pitching performance from starter Kim Jin-wook, Lotte fell 2-4 in the eighth inning of Game 1. However, with a big win on the final day, Lotte returned to winning percentage (.407) and completed the sweep in five games.
Lotte’s behavior over the past two weeks, including this series, has been akin to a goblin team. They’ve swept the top teams with flawless performances, only to lose against teams that are actually fighting to escape the bottom of the standings.
Lotte played a three-game series at home against the first-place Kia Tigers starting on the 21st of last month. With a nine-spot gap in the standings and an ambiguous result of one win, one draw, and one loss in the previous series, there were no high expectations. However, they took the first game 6-1 with a four-run seventh inning. The next day, they won 4-2 behind Park Se-woong’s eight innings of one-run ball, and then won 10-6 on the 23rd behind a strong batting performance.
In doing so, Lotte pulled off the miracle of a last-place 카지노 team catching a first-place team. It was the first time the 10th-place team had swept the first-place team since the 10-team system was established in 2015 with the addition of KT Wiz.
The rejuvenated Lotte also completed a best-of-three series against the Samsung Lions, who were in third place as of the 24th of last month. After falling 5-11 on the first day, Lotte rallied for a 7-6 victory in the eighth inning behind home runs by Yoo Kang-nam and Park Seung-wook. On the final day, the team rallied for a 9-1 victory despite losing starter Charlie Barnes to an adductor muscle injury.
With the win, Lotte moved on to Daejeon to face the eighth-ranked Hanwha Eagles. Hanwha was in a tumultuous mood, with manager Choi Won-ho resigning just before the series. The result was an unexpected sweep for Lotte. On the 28th, starter Park Se-woong gave up eight runs in the fifth inning alone in a shocking 3-12 loss, and the team went 0-3 the next day. On the 30th, Na Gyun-an and Lee In-bok combined to give up seven runs apiece in a 0-15 loss.
Back at home, Lotte hosted fifth-ranked NC in the “Nakdong River Derby. NC was on a six-game losing streak, but Lotte was not in a good mood either. However, they scored six runs in the first inning of the 31st game to win 13-5, and after losing the first day’s game, they won the final day’s game with a big win to take the best-of-three series 2-1.