23 wins and undefeated in the 7th inning lead. 100% win rate. The Lotte Giants, who are ahead of them, are unlikely to ever lose.
Lotte won the regular season away game against Kiwoom Heroes in the 2023 KBO League held at Gocheok Sky Dome on the 26th, 2-0 thanks to pitchers’ good pitching and Park Seung-wook’s final blow.
With this, Lotte recorded 25 wins and 15 losses (0.625 win rate) and ran two consecutive wins. On the contrary, Kiwoom fell into a three-game losing streak, and the season record was 19-27.
On this day, Lotte’s winning formula was also unfolded. It is the equation to win by keeping the lead well after taking the lead until the 7th inning.
After Dan Strale Lee went down after 6 innings, 3 hits, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts, and no runs, Kim Sang-soo, Koo Seung-min, and Kim Won-joong blocked a total of 3 scoreless innings and kept the game lead.
First, in the 7th inning, Kim Sang-soo posted a hold with 1 inning, 1 hit, 1 strikeout, no run, and Koo Seung-min, 1 inning, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, no run, respectively, and Kim Won-joong recorded a save with 1 walk and 1 run in 1 inning.
The salvation team, who came out after Strayley, also fought well. Kim Sang-soo in the 7th inning, Koo Seung-min in the 8th inning, and Kim Won-joong in the 9th inning took the mound one by one, each pitched one scoreless inning, and put up a hold and a save to finish the game.
In the process, two great records were also established.
First, Kim Sang-soo blocked the 7th inning, 1 inning, 1 hit, 1 strikeout, no runs, added a hold, and set a record of 110 holds, his 11th individual in the KBO league.
Koo Seung-min, who took the mound in the 8th inning, also harvested his 97th hold in his personal career, surpassing the previous record set by Kang Young-shik (96 holds) and setting a new record for the most holds by a player belonging to the Lotte Giants.
This season, Lotte was accumulating the most victories in this category, winning all 22 games before the game on this day, leading up to the 7th inning.
In addition, there are 3 more teams with a 100% win rate in the 7th inning, but Lotte has the most wins. However, by adding one more win in this game, the gap widened further, and continued with a huge win rate in the 7th lead of 23 wins and undefeated.
Regarding this appearance, before the game, Lotte coach Larry Sutton said, “In the pitching part, the players who want to keep the lead again have great desire.” He did not hold back his praise.
He also explained that the mental strength of the players and the spirit of Team First were the secret to success. Manager Sutton said, “The players, especially the pitchers, do not focus on individual parts such as ‘I am not in good shape today, I have a bad feeling today’, but have such a strong mental strength to finish today’s game somehow and finish it with a victory. I’m showing it now,” he repeatedly praised the pitchers’ mentality.먹튀검증
The match on the 26th was the same. There were sporadic crises, but Kim Sang-soo, Koo Seung-min, and Kim Won-joong did their duty by blocking one inning without allowing a run until the end.
Lotte has become a team that is unlikely to ever lose in a game they are winning this season.
