The Samsung Lions defeated the Kiwoom Heroes at home to clinch second place in the regular season. Samsung has made it to the playoffs for the first time in three years since 2021.
Samsung won the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League home game against Kiwoom at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on the 22nd.
With this victory, Samsung marked 77 wins, 61 losses and two draws, completely eliminating the magic number that was confirmed as the runner-up. On the other hand, Kiwoom remained at the bottom with 57 wins and 81 losses. Kiwoom has lost four straight games.
As a result, Samsung finished second after the tiebreaker match with KT Wiz in 2021 and won the playoff ticket for the first time in three years. Samsung ended the regular season in seventh place in the 2022 season and eighth place in the 2023 season, respectively, failing to advance to autumn baseball.
Samsung succeeded in gaining the upper hand by targeting Kiwoom starter Furado from the first inning. In the bottom of the first inning, Samsung hit a three-run shot by Park Byung-ho over the left-center fence with two outs and runners on the first and second bases, following an infield hit by leadoff batter Kim Ji-chan and a walk by Yoon Jeong-bin.
Samsung scored another run with a big single in the bottom of the third inning. With two outs and no runners on base, Koo made it 4-0. It was Koo’s 32nd homer of this season. Kiwoom also immediately hit back at the top of the fourth inning. Jang Jae-young hit a timely hit to the left with two outs and runners on the first and second bases, which was made with Choi Joo-hwan’s hit and Kim Jae-hyun’s infield hit, and brought runner Choi Joo-hwan home.
Samsung, however, seemed to be effectively clinching the victory by allowing two runs in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Koo hit a home run ahead of the chance to hit the first base with no outs, and scored a solo shot to superiority. Koo’s 33rd homer of this season. Then, in the bottom of the seventh inning, leadoff hitter Lee Jae-hyun got on base with a straight walk off the changed pitcher Won Jong-hyun, and hit a homer when pinch hitter Lee Chang-yong had a timely double to the right-center. With runners on third and second bases with two outs, Lee Sung-kyu hit a timely hit to left-center. The score widened to 8-1.
The game, which Samsung had hoped would end easily with a victory, suddenly erupted into a counterattack. Samsung and Kiwoom exchanged runs in the eighth inning. First, Kiwoom combined Song Sung-moon’s walk with Choi Joo-hwan’s double after one out to secure the second and third bases. Here, Kim Hye-sung scored a sacrifice fly RBI in the center field. Then, after Jeon Byung-woo got on base with a walk in the bottom of the eighth inning, Samsung took advantage of wild pitching at Kim Young-woong’s at-bat after two outs. Kim struck out swinging. However, Lee Jae-hyun hit a timely hit to left field to make up for a point.
In the top of the ninth inning, when Samsung was leading 9-2, Kiwoom took the mound in the final game. Samsung replaced Kim Tae-hoon with Oh Seung-hwan. Jang Jae-young, the leadoff batter, struck out three pitches, and Won Sung-joon hit a fly ball to the right field at the first pitch, respectively. Two outs. Now, Samsung has one out count to go before winning. Afterwards, Kiwoom started a counterattack. He scored a whopping six points and narrowed the gap to one point.
After Kim Tae-jin hit a timely hit, with two outs and two outs in the ninth inning, Samsung took advantage of Lee Ju-hyung’s on-base hit due to a grounder to the first base. Song got the bases loaded with walks after a game of eight pitches. Here, Kim Hye-seong hit a timely two-run hit, and third baseman Song Sung-moon also scored when Choi Joo-hwan hit a deep infield single to the second base. This was not the end of his career. Kim Geon-hee did not miss the chance to hit the first base and second base and hit a three-run shot. The score was narrowed to 9-8, one point gap. In the end, Samsung let down Oh Seung-hwan and used the Kim Jae-yoon card. Kim Jae-yoon gave up a right-handed hit to pinch hitter Bae Sang-kwon, but struck out Jang Jae-young for the sixth time after a full count, securing a one-run victory.
Samsung’s starting pitcher Won Tae-in pitched six innings, allowing five hits, one walk, five strikeouts and one run (one earned) in 100 pitches to achieve his 15th win (six losses) in this season. Won jumped to the lead in multiple wins. He is followed by Doosan Bears’ Kwak Bin (14 wins), LG Ens and KT’s Um Sang-baek, NC Hearts and Kiwoom Heysus (13 wins). Song Eun-beom (⅔ innings), Lim Chang-min (one run in one inning), Kim Tae-hoon (⅓ innings), Oh Seung-hwan (six runs in the ⅔ innings), and Kim Jae-yoon (⅓ innings). Kim Jae-yoon has made 10 saves (four wins and eight losses).
In the Samsung lineup, which had eight hits, five fewer than Kiwoom, Koo Ja-wook made two hits (two home runs) in four times at bat (three RBIs and two runs scored). Koo has been performing so-called crazy that his batting average in the last 10 games has reached 0.610 (25 hits in 41 times at bat, seven homers, 21 RBIs, 13 runs and three walks). In the last four games, he had a batting average of 0.600 (9 hits in 15 times at bat), three homers, an on-base percentage of 0.684 and a slugging percentage of 1.267. Koo’s performance this season has been impressive, with a batting average of 0.344 (169 hits in 491 times at bat), 33 homers, 115 RBIs and 13 steals (four failed attempts), 53 walks, 72 strikeouts and a slugging percentage of 0.629, on-base percentage of 0.416 and OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) of 1.054. His batting average and RBI are the third and tied for fourth in homers, respectively. He is the second-ranked team behind Kim Do-young (1.064), who is considered an “MVP” candidate. Without Kim, he would have been able to become an MVP. 안전놀이터
On the other hand, Kiwoom lost its eighth game (10 wins) of the season with six innings (a total of 88 pitches), five hits (three homers), one walk, and six runs (six earned) with four strikeouts. Won Jong-hyun then allowed two runs in one inning and Park Bum-joon one run in one inning, respectively. Choi Joo-hwan had three hits, Kim Jae-hyun and Jang Jae-young had multi hits, respectively, but failed to achieve a win.