The team’s momentum for this year’s championship has been dampened. As the Lotte Giants suffered a come-from-behind loss after two consecutive close games, the spark of hope for the fall baseball season faded.
Lotte lost 4-6 in away games against the KIA Tigers of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field. The eighth-ranked Lotte (50 wins, three draws and 59 losses, a winning rate of 0.459) failed to narrow its gap with KT Wiz (57 wins, two draws and 60 losses), which tied for fifth, and SSG Landers (57 wins, one draw and 60 losses, a winning rate of 0.487).
Early in the game, Lotte was in the mood. In the top of the second inning against KIA starter Kim Do-hyun, leadoff hitter Na Seung-yeop walked and Jeong Hoon doubled, setting the table for the second and third bases with no outs. Noh Jin-hyuk retired by strikeout, but when Son Seong-bin grounded out to the shortstop, the third baseman homered and scored the first run. Yoon Dong-hee then called in Jeong Hoon with a hit to the center field after the game of the eighth pitch, making it 2-0. With two outs and a timely double by Ko Seung-min, Lotte took the lead of 3-0.
In the third inning, Victor Reyes, who was the leadoff hitter, hit his 13th solo shot of the season to cross the central fence by hitting the first pitch, and scored a 4-0 run. Jeon’s double then gave him a chance to score. With Na Seung-yeop stepping down with a fly ball to the right field to become a runner on the second base with one out, Jeong-hoon threw a wild pitch at the batter’s box, giving him a golden chance to score with one out and runners on the third base. However, Jeong-hoon missed the chance to run away with a fly ball to the first baseman and Roh Jin-hyuk hit a fly ball to the center field.
Lotte starter Charlie Barnes, who had four runs in the early days of the game, pitched a scoreless game until the third inning. However, he was slightly shaken from the fourth inning. After giving up a walk to leadoff hitter Kim Do-young, he almost caught the runner by checking when Na Sung-bum was at bat with one out, but Kim arrived at second base faster and allowed a stolen base.
Barnes said, “At the risk of scoring a point with one out and runners on the second base, Na struck out after three pitches. The next batter, Lee Woo-sung, was hit by a homerun foul, and eventually lost a point by hitting a timely double that fell to the left of the left field.
In the top of the fifth inning, Lotte set the table for scoring second base with no outs and no outs with a stolen base after Son Ho-young got on base with a ball that hit his body. Reyes’ fly ball to center field led to a chance to get on third base with one out, but Jeon Joon-woo struck out and Na Seung-yeop was out with a fly ball to left field, failing to widen the gap again this time.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Barnes allowed leadoff hitter Kim Tae-gun to throw a solo shot to catch up with him. In the bottom of the sixth inning, leadoff hitter Kim Do-young also hit a solo home run, allowing him to chase after him 4-3. Barnes, who had a hit by Na Sung-bum after one out, was eventually replaced by Koo Seung-min. As Koo Seung-min, who took over the mound, managed to end the inning without allowing a run as the successor, Barnes ended the game by allowing five hits (two homers), three walks, four strikeouts, and three runs in five ⅓ innings.
Taking advantage of Kia’s Choi Ji-min’s poor control of the ball in the top of the seventh inning, Lotte had a chance to score a point with one out and runners on the first and second bases with walks by Ko Seung-min and Reyes. However, Jeon Joon-woo struck out against the changed pitcher Jeon Sang-hyun, and Na Seung-yeop also overturned the table, which was set as a swing and miss strikeout after a game of eight pitches.
The cost of running away was huge. Kim Sang-soo, who took the mound in the bottom of the eighth inning, was on the verge of first and third bases with no outs after consecutive hits by Park Chan-ho and Kim Sun-bin. Kim gave up a straight walk to Kim Do-young, causing a desperate crisis with no outs and no outs, and handed over the mound to Jin Hae-soo. In the end, Jin had a timely two-run hit by Socrates Brito, who allowed a come-from-behind victory. At Na Sung-bum’s at-bat, he failed to strike out due to uncertainty over the decision of check swing and timely hit to left, and gave up one more point. 메이저놀이터
Giving up the lead 4-6 in the top of the ninth inning, Lotte saved hope by allowing one out and Ko Seung-min to get on base with a walk. However, Son Ho-young hit a double play with a ground ball to the shortstop, dispelling even the last chance.
With three consecutive games to be held this week, Lotte had overwhelming advantage against the Kia Tigers with seven wins, one draw and three losses. When the team was losing 1-3, it was lucky that no game was declared due to sudden downpour in the top of the fourth inning.
After overcoming the risk of defeat, Lotte put forward Park Se-woong as its starting pitcher on Monday. Park, who had shown strong performance in two games against KIA with two wins and an ERA of 1.29 in the previous one, left a regret by allowing 10 hits and four runs in five ⅓ innings. The team showed off its potential to come from behind to turn the tables again, but lost 5-6 due to fatal errors in the seventh and eighth innings.
Barnes started as the starting pitcher on Tuesday to avenge his loss on Wednesday, and had one win and an ERA of 1.32 in two previous matches against KIA, displaying the image of “Tiger Killer” just like Park Se-woong. However, Barnes had difficulty controlling his ball control unlike the previous games, and allowed up to two homers, failing to display a perfect pitch for “Ace.”
Lotte, which had been on a roll with nine wins and three losses (0.750 win rate) in 12 games in August before the three consecutive games against Kia began, once reduced its ranking to two games, but moved back to three games. Still 34 games are left until the end of the season, but not only fifth-ranked KT and SSG but also seventh-ranked Hanwha Eagles are fiercely competing with each other for the last ticket to the semi-finals. Against this backdrop, Lotte lost two consecutive games against Kia, which had maintained a relationship with its natural enemy, making it a step away from the autumn baseball league. If Lotte fails to deal with the subdued mood quickly, it may end up torturing the fall baseball season as well.