The Lotte Giants bounced back from a head-to-head sweep and a heartbreaking loss the day before with a crucial error by their opponent to win back-to-back series for the first time since June.
Lotte scored five runs in the third inning to take a 6-1 victory over the KIA Tigers in their 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League home game at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on Wednesday. With the win, Lotte finished the series 2-1 and recorded a sweep, avenging the humiliation of a three-game sweep in Gwangju in late July.
With the win, Lotte improved to 47 wins and 51 losses on the season (.480 winning percentage), closing the gap to sixth-place KIA by 1.5 games. On the other hand, KIA,온라인바카라 who had won the previous day’s game, missed the opportunity to reduce the gap to the fifth-placed Doosan Bears.
Lotte also secured its second consecutive winning series following the series against Gochuk Kiwoom on 8-10 August. This is the first time in 77 days that Lotte has won two series in a row this season, after winning 2-1 against Sajik NC on 23-25 May and 2-1 against Gochuk Kiwoom on 26-28 May.
The key to Lotte’s victory was starter Charlie Barnes. The right-hander, who was 3-0 with a 1.48 ERA in his last four starts before the game, held the opposition to a no-hitter until the fifth inning. He allowed one run (unearned) on three hits and two walks with five strikeouts in seven innings to earn his ninth win of the season. The bats didn’t score except for one inning in the third, but they scored a whopping five runs in that inning alone, harassing KIA starter Mario Sanchez.
Sanchez struck out seven in five innings of work against the LOTTE bats, allowing just one earned run, but four unearned runs were the result of his mistakes.
Lotte’s Charlie Barnes pitches against Sajik KIA on the 13th.
Lotte fielded a lineup of Ahn Kwon-soo (right fielder), Ahn Chi-hong (first baseman), Lee Jeong-hoon (left fielder), Jeon Jun-woo (designated hitter), Nico Goodrum (third baseman), Park Seung-wook (second baseman), Kim Min-seok (centre fielder), Noh Jin-hyuk (shortstop) and Jeong Jung-geun (catcher).
KIA countered with the following batting order: Park Chan-ho (shortstop), Kim Do-young (third baseman), Na Sung-beom (designated hitter), Socrates Brito (centre fielder), Lee Woo-seong (right fielder), Lee Chang-jin (left fielder), Hwang Dae-in (first baseman), Kim Tae-gun (catcher), and Kim Kyu-sung (second baseman).
It was Lotte who took the first chance. In the bottom of the first inning, LOTTE put runners on first and second with back-to-back singles by Lee Jung-hoon and Jeon Jun-woo, but were unable to capitalise as Goodrum retired the side on a five-pitch strikeout. In the next inning, leadoff hitter Park Seung-wook singled to left, but the next three batters all struck out to end the inning.
It was an error that broke the 0-0 balance. In the bottom of the third, Lotte put runners on first and second after leadoff hitter Ahn Kwon-soo singled and Ahn Chi-hong walked. Lee Jeong-hoon hit a sharp 1-2 pitch that second baseman Kim Kyu-sung couldn’t catch properly and flicked it behind the plate. This allowed second baseman Ahn Kwon-soo to come home and give Lotte the lead.
Kim Kyu-sung. /Photo=KIA Tigers
Lotte’s Noh Jin-hyuk celebrates after hitting a three-run double in the bottom of the third inning against Sasik KIA on 13 July.
The Lotte bats then began to explode. After Jeon Jun-woo singled to load the bases, Park Seung-wook followed with an infield single to make it 2-0. Two outs later, Noh Jin-hyuk hit a double over the left field fence to bring all three runners home. It was a hard hit, but left fielder Lee Chang-jin was unable to catch it, making it a long ball.
With more support from the bats, LOTTE starter Barnes retired the side in order in the fourth inning, including two strikeouts. He then did not allow a run in the fifth inning, completing his five-inning no-hitter.
The KIA bats came alive in the sixth inning. Leadoff hitter Kim Tae-gun broke the no-hitter with a single to left-centre off Barnes. Although Kim was thrown out at the plate, KIA had runners on first and third after Choi Jung-yong singled and Park Chan-ho walked on back-to-back wild pitches. Kim Do-young then hit a sacrifice fly to centre field to score a run, but a golden opportunity was lost when centre fielder Na Sung-bum was thrown out at the plate.
KIA’s Choi Jeong-yong (far right) heads to third base on a wild pitch by the opposing pitcher in the top of the sixth inning against Sajik Lotte on 13 July.
Lotte held on to the lead and Barnes went seven innings to earn a Quality Start Plus (seven or more innings pitched, three earned runs or less). In the bottom of the eighth, Lee Jung-geun drove in a run with an RBI triple and LOTTE used two relievers, Koo Seung-min (8th) and Kim Won-joong (9th), to close out the sweep.