“I made a joke to my coach that I would get the MVP by hitting six home runs and 18 RBIs this time.”
It was pleasant, but it seemed clear that he would never easily step down. Oh Ji-hwan (LG Twins) vowed to do well in the postseason as well as in the upcoming regular league.
LG, led by manager Yeom Kyung-yeop, crushed the Hanwha Eagles by manager Kim Kyung-moon 9-3 at a home game of the 2024 professional baseball KBO League regular season held at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Sunday. After recovering from the two-game losing streak, LG secured 67 wins, two draws and 60 losses to remain in third place.
Oh Ji-hwan, who started as the fifth batter and shortstop, showed stellar performance. He led LG’s offense by posting three hits and two RBIs in five times at bat.
Oh Ji-hwan showed off his batting performance from the beginning. He took the lead as a batter in the bottom of the second inning and hit a fastball of 145 kilometers on six pitches by right-handed starter Lee Sang-kyu, making an infield hit in front of the third baseman. In the bottom of the fourth inning, he took the lead as a batter and hit a triple to the right before hitting home on Park Dong-won’s grounder to the shortstop.
The highlight was in the bottom of the fifth inning when LG was slightly ahead 2-1. With the bases loaded with two outs, Kim Seo-hyun, Hanwha’s right-handed bullpen pitcher, hit a fastball of 152 km on three pitches, resulting in a two-run timely hit to the right. In fact, he added a game to his team’s victory and completely leaned toward LG. Afterwards, he struck out at the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings, respectively, and ended the game with double plays by the second baseman.
After the game, manager Yeom Kyung-yeop said, “The overall batting line burst, making it easy to win the game,” adding, “In particular, two players, Oh Ji-hwan and Austin Dean (four at-bats, two hits and three RBIs), led the batting line today.”
“I’m not ignoring Kim Seo-hyun, but I’m confident about the fastball,” Oh said on the situation when he hit a two-run timely hit in the bottom of the fifth inning. “Since it was two balls and the bases loaded, I thought it would be more probabilistically bad if I threw a breaking ball. I thought I would throw a fastball with confidence. I think I can hit a fastball no matter how fast it is.”
Oh’s family visited the stadium and watched his performance. During the interview with Su-hoon, Oh also conducted the interview with his child on his lap.
Oh Ji-hwan said, “Inevitably, the family had a hard time because there were stories of listening to the results of the players’ games, and there were things that we couldn’t help, but I’m glad we won,” adding, “We didn’t have a good week as a team.” I thought I should do well on the weekend, but I will finish well by tomorrow (8th).”
LG, the defending champion, remains in third place, trailing the top-ranked KIA Tigers (79 wins, two draws and 50 losses) and the second-ranked Samsung Lions (72 wins, two draws and 57 losses), by 11 games and four games, respectively. The team has failed to win the regular league title for the second consecutive year. It was painful to see its sluggish performance with four wins and six losses in the last 10 games including the game on the day. Against this backdrop, veteran Oh Ji-hwan made efforts to improve the team’s mood.
Oh Ji-hwan said, “Young players have no choice but to look at their seniors, and seniors try to change the atmosphere in them, but when they lose the game, they can’t laugh. (If you laugh because you don’t laugh), you can be seen differently,” adding, “I’m trying in many ways. Not only me, but also (Kim) Hyun-soo, (Park) Hae-min, (Park) Dong-won, and (Heo) Do-hwan are working hard. We had another meeting yesterday. Let’s do our best for the rest of the game. I said, “Let’s play more fun. I think it was better to enter the game after talking about it like that from the meeting.”
In particular, LG’s recent slump was largely disappointed in defense. A series of errors came out of the match, which eventually led to a defeat.
Oh Ji-hwan said, “It’s actually because of me. I made an unnecessary mistake and made him go to two or three points to prevent one point from being blocked. The influence of that was so great,” adding, “So I had a sense of responsibility. Of course, looking back on the process, I have no regrets because I really tried to do my best, but I feel a bit sorry that the game itself lost.”
Nonetheless, LG has become a strong team that seeks to advance to the post season for the sixth consecutive year. LG has improved dramatically compared to the dark ages of the past. 메이저사이트
Oh said, “Young players did a good job. Ha Min, Hyun-soo and I have been criticized a lot recently, but aside from that, I think I’m holding out now because there are older players like that,” Oh said. “When you compete for a long time, it’s important that you run a lot without getting sick. Baseball can beat you even if you can’t hit the bat. The range of defense is also important. I still respect you because you are the winning team.”
It has become difficult to win the regular league, but LG’s final ranking has yet to be determined. If they do well in the fall baseball and reach the Korean Series, they may try to win the championship once again.
Oh Ji-hwan, who was honored as MVP of the Korean Series last year, said, “Of course, it’s a shame. Everything didn’t work out as planned,” but added, “We have to find some positive in this.” He joked to his coach that he would win the MVP award by hitting six home runs and 18 RBIs this time. Although the ranking has been outlined to some extent, what is still meaningful is that the team will go through the postseason. The final ranking is not out yet, and you have to try the opponent to know. I think you can judge after everything is over. In a short-term game, the opponent will feel pressure just by trying something bold. I think we have to play a lot of games.”