The 8 Billion Catcher’s Kick boosted morale. The ‘long-haired ace’ secured the win.
The Lotte Giants won the first game of their midweek series against the Samsung Lions, 10-3, at Munsu Baseball Stadium in Ulsan, Korea, on May 5, raising hopes for fall baseball with a second straight victory. The victory was a pleasant mix of free agents and foreigners, veterans and rookies.
Samsung’s Choi Chae-heung made his first start in three days. Samsung manager Park Jin-man said, “Five days of rest is for 100 pitches. He only threw 55 pitches, so three days of rest was enough.”
Lotte responded with a four-run big inning in the bottom of the first. After back-to-back singles by Yoon Dong-hee and Jung-hoon, Ahn Chi-hong reached on a fielder’s choice and scored on a sacrifice fly by Goodrum. Yoo Kang-nam then capped the inning with his seventh home run of the season, a three-run shot over the left-center field fence.
Lotte started Aaron Wilkerson, who had the second-best second-half ERA (1.69) as of the previous day. Wilkerson retired the first five batters he faced. However, in the top of the second inning, Samsung’s Ryu Ji-hyeok singled and left fielder Hwang Sung-bin made a diving catch for a double. The next batter, Lee Jae-hyun, singled to score a run.
In the bottom of the fourth, Lotte put runners on first and second with a leadoff double by Yoon Dong-hee and a walk by Ahn Chi-hong, and added a run on a single by Jeon Jun-woo. Goodrum struck out the side to end the threat.
Wilkerson faced another defensive scare in the top of the fifth. With one out, he induced a grounder to Kim Hyun-jun at second base, but shortstop Noh Jin-hyuk fumbled the ball and failed to make the catch. He gave up an RBI triple to Kim Sung-yoon to center field. The error was not recorded and remained an unearned run for Wilkerson. It was the first time he gave up three runs before the fifth inning in his KBO debut.
Lotte took a 7-3 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning against Samsung’s second pitcher, Hong Jung-woo, after Yoo Kang-nam singled, Noh Jin-hyuk walked, and Yoon Dong-hee and Jung-hoon followed with RBI singles. Wilkerson responded by working out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth to record his fifth quality start (six or more innings and three or fewer earned runs). 카지노사이트
Lotte had runners on first and second in the top of the seventh, but Kim Jin-wook and Kim Sang-soo were able to get out of the jam. In the bottom of the seventh, Jeong Hoon and Ahn Chi-hong hit back-to-back RBI singles against Samsung’s Jang Pil-joon to extend the lead to 10-3.
One out later in the top of the eighth, Jin Seung-hyun came on and pitched 1⅔ scoreless innings to celebrate his birthday. Wilkerson picked up his fourth win of the season.