There is no “baseball” for the Lotte Giants in the fall of 2024. With the disappearance of the tracking number, the team has failed to advance to the postseason. It was caught by the fatal baserunner.
Lotte lost 1-5 to the KT Wiz in Game 16 of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League held at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on Sunday. It beat the Hanwha Eagles 3-2 in Daejeon on the previous day to revive its slim chance of reaching the semi-finals, but failed to make it past the day.
With the loss, Lotte recorded 63 wins, 72 losses and 4 draws this season, and even if it wins all five remaining games in the regular season, it will not be able to beat fifth-ranked KT (70 wins, 70 losses and 2 draws) in the final winning rate or tie the score.
Lotte’s loss was silent. Left-hander Young-gun and Kim Jin-wook allowed seven hits, six strikeouts and one run in four ⅓ innings, while veteran right-hander Kim Sang-soo pitched well in the first ⅔ inning with one strikeout and no run, but his bat did not explode.
Lotte failed to target KT starter Eom Sang-baek with two outs in the top of the second inning, two outs in the top of the third inning, and two outs in the top of the fourth inning. All it did was get a point with Son Ho-young’s RBI timely hit in the first and second bases chance that caught Victor Reyes’ ordinary outfield fly ball after two outs in the top of the fifth inning.
Lotte had deep regret over its attack in the top of the sixth inning. While KT replaced pitcher Kim Min-soo instead of Eom Sang-baek who threw 88 pitches until the fifth inning, Lotte’s batters displayed concentration in the bullpen session.
In the top of the sixth inning, leadoff batters Jeon Joon-woo and Yoon Dong-hee walked consecutively to get on base and had chances for first and second bases with no outs. Lotte Bench ordered a sacrifice bunt during Park Seung-wook’s at-bat to set up a scoring chance.
However, Park failed to perform the bench operation properly. After his first attempt to bunt was fouled, he re-bunt the ball on the second pitch and hit the bat.
The problem followed. First baseman Yoon Dong-hee and second baseman Jeon Joon-woo immediately started when the ball hit Park Seung-wook’s bat. Although the ball flew slightly, he seemed to judge that it would be difficult for the pitcher to catch it. 토토사이트
However, KT Kim Min-soo immediately threw himself away and displayed a picturesque “super catch.” He then snatched Park Seung-wook’s bunt ball no-bound. He then quickly threw the ball to the second base to touch out the runner on the second base. After receiving Kim’s throw, KT shortstop Shim Woo-joon threw the ball to the first base to catch the runner on the first base with a touchout, ending Lotte’s attack in the top of the sixth inning.
Lotte’s triple killing at the top of the sixth inning with no outs and runners on the first and second bases was a big hit. Lotte’s batters retreated weakly after three offensives at the top of the seventh inning. He tried to score at the bottom of the seventh inning without losing a point, but his calculation was wrong.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, veteran sidearm Han Hyun-hee, who took the mound at the start of the inning, was hit twice by leadoff hitter Oh Yoon-seok. When KT put forward Kang Baek-ho, Lotte Bench changed the pitcher to left-hander Jung Hyun-soo, expressing its willingness to prevent the loss somehow.
Chung couldn’t overcome his reputation as Kang. As he allowed a timely RBI, the score changed to 1-2 Lotte. The situation worsened with Kim Min-hyuk’s timely RBI single at the risk of losing additional points, with one out and runners on second base.
Lotte Giants even deployed right-hander Na Gyun-an to prevent the gap from widening. However, even Na Gyun-an allowed Jang to hit a two-run homer, which effectively determined the outcome.
Even if Park Seung-wook made a sacrifice bunt in the top of the sixth inning, it is not certain that Lotte would have scored. However, it is clear that the triple play poured cold water on the good trend and revived KT’s spirit.
In recent years, Lotte has seen many games where its opponents kneeled down due to large and small mistakes, rather than falling behind in performance or power. This was also the reason why the “trajectory number” that confirmed its failure to advance to the postseason decreased one by one.
Lotte suffered a setback due to lack of details on where to go until the game on the day. The dark history of failing to advance to the post season, which began in 2018, has increased for the seventh consecutive year.