KIA won all three consecutive NC games in Changwon from May 17 to May 19. It had one win, one draw and one loss against Doosan, then No. 2 NC and moved to Sajik. It lost three games in a row. It gave up 20 points in three games.
Lotte was at the center of the deep slump that it once experienced in June. It held three consecutive games against Lotte in Gwangju from June 4 to June 6, and after losing two games, it had a one-point victory on the last day. For three days, Lotte scored eight points and gave 19 points.
The symptoms of abnormal conditions reached its peak in late June, when the team failed to stop when it encountered Lotte even though the team was enjoying popularity. In the three consecutive games between June 25 and 27, Lotte had one draw and two losses. The team lost the game in disgrace from the first day when the team was leading 14-1 but tied 15-15. For two days, Lotte scored six points and gave up 17 points. The bullpen session was not in a normal situation due to closer Jung Hae-young’s absence from injury, but Lotte gave Kia a sense of crisis to the extent that it replaced its head coach after the three consecutive games even though it was ranking first.
Kia is lagging behind Lotte with three wins, one draw and seven losses this season. While overwhelming top teams, it is strangely weak against Lotte, which is at the bottom of the group. When it comes to Lotte, it cannot afford to play the match as Kia does at all.
He allowed 74 runs in 11 games against Lotte, and posted 5.85 ERA, the worst among teams. His team’s batting average of 0.296 (ranked first) this season also drops to 0.261 when he meets Lotte. He had smooth performance up until after the season opener when he had two consecutive wins in Gwangju, but has shown significant weakness against Lotte since the first meeting in about two months.
KIA will meet Lotte again. It will start a three-game series with Lotte in Gwangju from June 20. The three-game series with Lotte has come to an end since the controversial three-game series with the resignation of the team from June 25 to 27. After sweeping all three consecutive games with LG at Jamsil, they came to face Lotte at a good time when they moved to Gwangju.
KIA seems to be solidifying its No. 1 ranking by beating LG Electronics over the weekend. It is 5.5 games behind second-ranked Samsung and seven games behind third-ranked LG. KIA has secured the top spot by overwhelming the two teams which are ranking second with eight wins and four losses and 12 wins and three losses, respectively. KIA has 28 games to play, Samsung has 27 games to play, and LG has 30 games to play. If KIA makes half hit in the remaining games, Samsung can come from behind only when it has a winning rate of 0.750 or more. It is true that Kia has become highly advantageous for its No. 1 ranking in the regular season. 먹튀검증
However, he still has a way to run. It can be seen as a test that he met Lotte right after showing off his prowess as the No. 1 team with overwhelming performance in six consecutive away games in Seoul last week. With the current momentum, whether he will beat Lotte to secure 70 wins and solidify his solo pace completely, and whether the mood will cool down due to Lotte’s loss.
Lotte has been on the rise in recent 10 games with seven wins and three losses. It is doing its best to join the top five teams, heralding a very tricky game.
For Kia, the fact that the team plays at its home city of Gwangju is a source of comfort for the team. All three of Kia’s wins against the Lotte Giants this year came from Gwangju. The pitching and hitting records are mixed. In five games held in Gwangju, Kia allowed 22 runs and posted an ERA of 4.00. While the mound was relatively stable, the batting average was 0.226. In contrast, in six games held in Sajik, hitters exploded with a batting average of 0.286 but the pitchers collapsed with a poor ERA of 7.44.
Through three consecutive games at Jamsil LG, KIA showed perfect pitching and batting performance. It is time to meet Lotte to maintain that balance and reaffirm its true value.
