“Not a bit”
The Kiwoom Heroes narrowly avoided the “shame” of their longest losing streak since the club’s inception with a 10-8 victory over the Lotte Giants in the 10th game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on April 9.
Kiwoom took advantage of a flurry of errors by Lotte’s Yasujin the previous day (Sept. 9) to seize control of the game from the start. They opened the game with a lead, but tied the game in the second inning on an error by Lotte shortstop Nico Goodrum, scored five runs in the third inning on a throwing error by first baseman Go Seung-min, and extended the lead to 9-1 in the fourth inning on Song Sung-moon’s push single and Lee Ju-hyung’s RBI double. However, the way the game ended was “the worst.
Kiwoom had a 10-3 lead in the top of the ninth inning before the defense kicked in, and it could have been a disaster. Joo Seung-woo, who was brought in to close out the game, got two outs before giving up three consecutive singles to load the bases. With his back against the wall, Kiwoom brought in Lee Myung-jong to try and tie the game up, but he was shaken when he gave up a single to Ahn Chi-hong and then a walk to Yoon Dong-hee.
Feeling the pressure, Kiwoom brought in ‘closer’ Im Chang-min, who was unable to provide any relief. He gave up a two-run double to Park Seung-wook with the bases loaded and a single to pinch-hitter Jung Hoon to cut the deficit to 10-8, and faced an improbable victory. Fortunately, he was able to get Noh Jin-hyuk to fly out to left field with runners on first and third in the next two outs to secure the win and end the nine-game losing streak.온라인바카라
“It’s really hard to break (the losing streak),” said manager Hong Won-ki on Tuesday. “During the losing streak, we had some unfortunate reversals and some easy games, but I think it’s hard to break the streak itself.” He continued, “Weren’t you nervous in the ninth inning?
When asked by reporters if he was nervous in the ninth inning, Hong Won-ki said, “Not a bit,” and added, “I think it was harder yesterday than during the losing streak. It’s not easy to play baseball. It seems to get harder the more you do it, and nothing seems to go as you want it to,” he said with a cool smile.
On the 10th, Kiwoom called up Yang Ji-yul and Kim Xiang, and scratched Joo Seung-woo from the first team, who had struggled the previous day when he took the mound in the ninth inning and gave up three runs on three hits with three strikeouts in ⅔ innings. The manager said, “He had shown good form before, but in the end, he needs to improve to survive in the first team. No matter how good you were before, you need to hone your skills to suddenly show that kind of performance.” “As I emphasize every time, pitching is the most important thing to survive and grow in the first team,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kiwoom’s starting lineup on the day was Lee Yong-kyu (right fielder), Kim Hye-sung (designated hitter), Ronnie Dawson (left fielder), Song Sung-moon (third baseman), Kim Hui-jip (shortstop), Lee Joo-hyung (center fielder), Kim Tae-jin (second baseman), Kim Su-hwan (first baseman), and Kim Dong-heon (catcher). Kim Hye-sung, who was hit by a foul ball that he hit himself on the 7th, is expected to play defense from the 11th game onward after playing as a designated hitter until today.