Lotte’s bats have really caught fire. The top of the lineup is especially explosive.
Lotte exploded for 12 hits in the first and second innings to win 11-7 against SSG in the 2024 KBO Baseball World Series at Sajik Stadium in Busan on Sunday. Lotte, which had previously taken the best-of-three series against KIA, continued its momentum by taking the first game of the three-game series against SSG. They are now 5-2 in seven games after a three-game sweep of Hanwha. They also moved up to eighth place after knocking off KT, who lost to LG earlier in the day.
When Lotte starter Lee Min-seok gave up a leadoff double to Choo Shin-soo and a triple to Choi Jung in the top of the first inning, then walked Guillermo Heredia to load the bases with two outs and gave up a wild pitch to Oh Tae-gon to put runners on the corners, it looked like Lotte would struggle.
However, Lotte quickly turned the game around in the bottom of the first inning, capitalizing on the power of their top of the order. After Yoon Dong-hee doubled and Ko Seung-min singled to put runners on first and second, Son Ho-young struck out, but Victor Reyes and Na Seung-yup followed with back-to-back RBI singles to make it 3-2. Lee Jung-hoon followed with a single and Park Seung-wook’s grounder to shortstop scored another run to make it 4-2.
After Lee Min-seok walked to load the bases with one out in the top of the second, Choi Yi-joon came up and gave up a sacrifice fly to Heredia to score a run but not tie the game, but Lotte’s bats exploded again in the bottom of the inning.
After a single by Kim Min-seok and a walk to Yoon Dong-hee put runners on first and second, Go Seung-min singled to make it 5-3, and Son Ho-young followed with a cool double to bring both runners home. Reyes followed with another RBI single and Na Seung-yeop extended the lead to 8-2.
In the top of the fourth, SSG scored one run to make it 8-4. After a quiet fifth inning, Lotte faced a crisis in the top of the sixth. Lim Joon-seop, who replaced Kim Sang-soo on the mound, got two outs but walked Choi Jung to load the bases, and Jeon Mir, who took over the mound after Lim, hit a ball to Heredia to put runners on 1-2. Koo Seung-min, who replaced Jeon, gave up an RBI single to Lee Ji-young and an RBI double to Go Myung-joon to cut the 먹튀검증 deficit to 8-7, one run. Go Myung-joon’s hit was a line drive to the left side of the infield that was caught by Lotte shortstop Park Seung-wook, who made a throwing error that allowed two runs to score.
However, Lotte regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning when Yoon Dong-hee singled, Go Seung-min reached on an error, Son Ho-young drew a walk to load the bases and Reyes hit a two-run single. Then, in the bottom of the eighth, with runners on first and third, Reyes delivered the game-winning sacrifice fly. In the top of the ninth, Kim Won-joong, who had been on the mound since the eighth inning, gave up back-to-back singles to Oh Tae-gon and Park Sung-han to put runners on the corners, but he struck out Han Yu-seom and then got Choi Ji-hoon to ground out to end the game.
The game was another reminder of the power of Lotte’s top lineup. The No. 1 through No. 5 batters combined to go 17-for-8 (.471) with nine RBIs, 10 runs scored, and six walks on the day. Reyes was the standout performer, going 2-for-2 with 토토사이트 추천 two walks and a double, not only reaching base 100 percent of the time, but also swiping four bases on his own.
SSG, meanwhile, held on to fifth place but saw its two-game winning streak snapped. Choi Jung-jeong went 3-for-2 with two RBIs, Choo Shin-soo went 2-for-4 with a run scored, and Oh Tae-gon went 4-for-3 with an RBI. Keisho Shirakawa, a former Japanese Independent League pitcher who had garnered attention after throwing five scoreless innings in his debut on April 1, got a sour taste of his own medicine as he was tagged for eight runs in 1.2 innings.