At the first Korean Series held in nine years, Samsung Lions ended up as runner-up with one win and four losses. Samsung, which had been suffering from bad spirits even before the series began, suffered a series of injuries and was defeated helplessly in the middle of the series. When the end of the season ended in vain, one player sobbed until the end in the corner of Samsung’s dugout.
Samsung played the fifth game of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO Korean Series at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field on Sunday, and lost to the KIA Tigers 5-7. Samsung, which recorded one win and four losses overall in the Korean Series, finished the 2024 season as the final second place. 스포츠토토
Samsung had been suffering from bad spirits even before the start of the Korean Series. Samsung, which already had its main pitchers Connor Seibold and Choi Ji-kwang out injured before the postseason, suffered a serious knee injury during the playoff series as well as captain Koo Ja-wook’s stolen base.
Negative variables continued to occur in the middle of the Korean Series. Samsung scored the first run in the top of the sixth inning during the first game of the Korean Series, before ending rain and declaring a suspended game. In the end, Samsung lost 1-5 due to bullpen arson in the first game in the second game held two days later. Samsung, which lost 3-8 in the second game held on the same day, returned to its home ground in Daegu with two losses.
Samsung revived hope in Game 3 when Danny Reyes pitched seven innings of one-run ball to clinch the first win of the 4-2 series. However, Samsung lost Game 4 in a crushing defeat of Game 2-9.
In the end, Samsung moved back to Gwangju and clinched the runner-up spot in the Korean Series with a 5-7 loss in Game 5. Samsung took the lead with a two-run homer by Lewin Diaz and a back-to-back homer by Kim Young-woong in the top of Game 5. Diaz’s two-run homerun in consecutive at-bats in the top of the third inning turned the mood around.
However, Samsung allowed the game to tie at 5-5 with a walk wild pitch with two outs and a bases-loaded walk after a solo home run by Choi Hyung-woo in the bottom of the fifth inning. Samsung completely lost the flow of the game when it gave up a timely infield single to Kim Tae-gun in the bottom of the sixth inning. In the end, Samsung missed the opportunity to load the bases with two outs in the top of the eighth inning without a run, and then got a timely double from Park Chan-ho in the bottom of the eighth inning, foreshadowing its defeat. Samsung confirmed its defeat in the Korean Series by stepping down weakly with three outs in the top of the ninth inning.
After the defeat, the atmosphere of Samsung’s dugout was still calm. With only brief interaction of words such as “well done” and “well done,” most players packed their bags and immediately withdrew to the locker room. One of them was sitting on the dugout bench sobbing. It was Ryu Ji-hyuk, interim captain.
Ryu was the interim captain after Koo Ja-wook was injured and led his team to the Korean Series. Ryu played in five games of the Korean Series, posting a batting average of 0.400, six hits, two doubles, two walks, and one stolen base, boasting the best batting performance among Samsung’s batters. In the fifth game, Ryu displayed stellar performance on the day by allowing one hit, one walk and one run, as well as stellar defense to block a loss when Kim Sun-bin hit the ball in the bottom of the second inning.
Ryu Ji-hyuk, who has shown such an outstanding performance, can’t help but feel the most resentful about the loss of the Korean Series. Ryu was sitting on the dugout bench for a while, burying his face and pouring out tears by himself. It was an atmosphere that other teammates could not easily appease. The real captain, Koo Ja-wook, approached and encouraged him to say, “It’s okay. It’s okay,” but Ryu’s tears didn’t stop easily. In the end, Ryu, who calmed down for a long time, was the latest to get up from the dugout and enter the locker room.
