The Lotte Giants are taking a stride forward toward autumn baseball, winning four consecutive games at the end of the season.
Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung and the giant team are showing strong concentration and ambition to win. Lotte won the regular-season away game against the Doosan Bears at Jamsil Stadium on Monday, winning the game 4-3, one point, and continuing its fourth consecutive win.
Currently, Lotte ranks seventh in the rankings. However, the gap between the fifth-ranked KT Wiz and the fourth-ranked Doosan Bears has narrowed to 2.5 games and 3.5 games. With 23 games left, the largest number among the 10 teams, now feels like an opportunity.
To this extent, Lotte has been displaying strong performance lately. In August, Lotte raced through the second place in a monthly record of 14 wins and eight losses with a winning rate of 0.636. The good trend in early and mid-August, which had been maintaining the top monthly winning rate, has been twisted for a while since the game against KIA in Gwangju on June 21. After losing three consecutive games until the game against Samsung in Daegu, Lotte seemed to be losing two wins and five losses in seven games, dampening its long-awaited dream to become an autumn baseball player. 안전놀이터
However, Lotte has since gained momentum to rebound again, recording 5 wins and 1 loss in three consecutive games of Sajik Hanwha, Gocheok Kiwoom, and Jamsil Doosan.
The team won 14-11 against Hanwha in Sajik on April 29, and the team won 8-2 against Kiwoom in Gocheok on the following day amid Chung Hyeon-su’s strong pitching. The team also won the game against Doosan Bears in Jamsil on Monday, 7-4 thanks to the relief team’s 4.1 scoreless innings and the batters’ cohesiveness. Notably, the team’s one-run victory in the 12th inning of extra time against Doosan Bears in Jamsil on April 1 was a drama that shows Lotte’s current potential and strength.
In the face of the game, starter Park Se-woong failed to keep his three-run lead, which he garnered by allowing two first runs in the first inning, as well as one hit, two walks and four strikeouts in six innings, and allowed a tie in the seventh inning. However, closer Kim Won-joong played 2.1 innings, taking the game to the end of overtime.
Afterwards, Na Kyun-an returned from a 30-game suspension along with self-reflection for about two months. Earlier, Na Kyun-an was embroiled in rumors of an extramarital affair starting from the spring camp, dashing cold water on the team’s off-season training. He continued to show lackluster performance even after the season.
To make matters worse, Na Kyun-an was in his worst form on June 25 when he was pulled out after only poor pitching with seven hits (one homer) and six walks and eight runs in 1.2 innings against KIA in Sajik, Busan. Before the game, it was revealed online that Na Kyun-an had a drinking party with an acquaintance until late at night that day, and later, as the club’s own investigation revealed this to be true, Na Kyun-an was removed from the first-team entry for over two months. After Na Kyun-an’s departure, Lotte’s starters suffered additional burdens as one axis of rotation was missing.
Na Kyun-an, who was registered in the first division in a surprise move on Sunday, took the mound from the bottom of the 11th inning when the score was tying 3-3, and pitched four strikeouts and no runs in two innings to become the winning pitcher of the day’s game. Jung Hoon, who had shown poor performance of striking out five consecutive times at bat in the top of the 12th inning, hit a timely hit to give his team a lead of four to three, one point. And he won the game by keeping the score at the bottom of the 12th inning.
As a result, the victory was a collaboration of the team that showed concentration without giving up the game until the end along with the mercenary skills of head coach Kim Tae-hyung. The trust of the head coach, who led Kim Won-joong to a long inning at the match point and did not replace Jeong-hoon, who was sluggish, stood out. Above all, Na Kyun-an, who caused such a big noise in the team that Kim criticized it publicly, also had an opportunity to melt into the team through atonement.
Na Kyun-an, who has been helpful to the team this season due to his terribly poor performance, has shown trust in choosing him at an important destination, allowing him to become a winning pitcher. After the game, Na Kyun-an expressed his commitment to the importance of playing and commitment, expressing his determination to “commit to the rest of the season even if he breaks his arm.”
In the end, it was a precious victory for Na, not for individual players but for the team, and the victory was achieved through overtime. Lotte is aiming at its fifth consecutive win at the match against Samsung in Daegu on Sunday. It is challenging to rank second in the league, which was fiercer than any other teams by posting the highest winning percentage in August. However, given Lotte’s current momentum, it is highly likely that the team will have a good game.