The momentum of the Lotte Giants, which had been rising ever since the opening, was broken.
Lotte lost 4-6 against the Samsung Lions held in Daegu on the 11th. In the 9th inning, trailing by 2-3, after 2 outs, 3 hits in a row led the game to extra time, and in the beginning of the 10th inning, hitter Yoon Dong-hee took the win with his debut home run (1 run), but in the beginning of the 10th inning, Kang Min-ho gave the end home run. I was beaten.먹튀검증
Lotte fell to 4th place after giving up 3rd place to ‘local rival’ NC Dinos. It is the first time since April 25 that Lotte has been pushed out of the top three.
Lotte, which had extensive power reinforcement, ended the month of April with a record of 14 wins and 8 losses. Last month, it continued to compete for the lead with a win rate of 0.591 (13 wins and 9 losses). The last time they reached the top spot was on May 19 (7-5 victory over SSG Landers).
However, this month, they are slowing down with 3 wins and 7 losses. They have only won a dominant series in their last 4 three-game series. In last week’s 6 games, they were sluggish with 1 win and 5 losses. They lost all three matches during the week against KT Wiz, who were at the bottom at the time, and lost to Samsung with one win and two losses.
This summer is important for Lotte to get rid of the stigma of ‘Bomde (Lotte that is only good at spring)’. Even if the pace has fallen recently, it is still in the pursuit with a 4-game gap with the leading SSG. On the other hand, the 5th place Doosan Bears is also chasing closely by two games.
The performance isn’t bad. Three of last week’s five losses came in overtime. Until May, it was strong with 15 wins and 8 losses in 1-2 points, but last week it suffered 4 losses twice in 1-2 points. The starting lineup, including Dan Straley, Na Gyun-an, Charlie Barnes, Park Se-woong, and Han Hyun-hee, is still in good shape. Lotte, which recently changed its batting coach, has Ahn Kwon-soo, Noh Jin-hyuk, and Han Dong-hee absent due to injuries and sluggish performance.
However, the strength of the bullpen has declined. Frequent defeats in close combat show this. Kim Sang-su (8 hold) and Kim Jin-wook (5 hold) seem to have a lot of empty seats. Lotte coach Larry Sutton explained, “(The two pitchers) showed a loss of command (the ability to throw the ball where they want) in recent games. They were removed from the first team for recovery and reset.” Due to this, the burden on Koo Seung-min and Kim Won-joong increased last week. As of the 11th, there is no left-handed pitcher in the Lotte 1st team bullpen.
Lotte is trying to raise the momentum again. Noh Jin-hyeok, who played all three matches on the weekend, is scheduled to go to the top this week, and Han Dong-hee, who is recording a batting average in the 40% range in the Futures (second team) league, can register for the first team after the 15th. Kim Sang-soo and Kim Jin-wook can return after the 17th.