Excessive motivation caused anger. Lotte Giants’ “Ma Huang” Hwang Seong-bin (27) provided an excuse for his team’s defeat by blocking the flow of basemen and defense.
At a home game against the LG Twins of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League held at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on Sunday, Hwang had three hits, one walk and two steals from four times at bat. However, his on-base hits failed to lead to a run, and Lotte lost 4-7.
As the leadoff hitter in the bottom of the first inning, Hwang opened the scoring with a heavy hit. However, he failed to advance further due to Go Seung-min’s double play.
Hwang Sung-bin, who was withdrawn due to a foul fly ball by the third baseman in the second inning, completed a multi-hit game in his third at-bat in the fifth inning. Hwang Sung-bin, who appeared as the leadoff hitter in the bottom of the fifth inning when Lotte was trailing 1-3, survived by recording an infield hit with a missed pitch, and succeeded in stealing the second base, creating a chance to score on the second base with no outs.
However, regrettable scene came out here. When Ko Seung-min hit a fly ball to right field, Hwang tried to advance to the third base after retouching, but was caught by Hong Chang-ki’s accurate throw and scored a base run. Considering Hwang’s strong point, he did not have to make an unreasonable attempt at a situation where he was trailing by two points, as a single hit could sufficiently make him enter the home ground even with one out and runners on the second base.
Since then, Lotte has even made Son Ho-young’s hit and Reyes’ RBI double, leaving Hwang Sung-bin’s baserunning regret even greater.
Hwang Sung-bin recorded his third hit with another infield hit in the bottom of the sixth inning, but again, Ko Seung-min’s groundout to the second base prevented him from advancing further.
In the seventh inning, Ryus defense got in the way. When the two teams were tying 4-4, at the top of the seventh inning with one out and runners on the first base, Kim Hyun-soos missed pitch fell to the front left field. Hwang tried to make a diving catch, but the ball just fell and rolled backward. Meanwhile, first baseman Hong Chang-ki ran home around the third base to score a point, and batter Kim Hyun-soo advanced to the second base. 메이저사이트
If played safely, the situation, which would have been 4-4 with one out and runners on first and third bases, allowed the team to come from behind to 4-5 with reckless diving catches and led to an additional crisis with one out and runners on second bases. In the end, Lotte’s score was 4-6, as the changed pitcher Han Hyun-hee allowed Austin Dean to make a timely hit.
After overcoming the pressure, Lotte gave up one more run to Austin in the top of the ninth inning, widening the gap to 4-7. Hwang got on base with a walk in the bottom of the ninth inning with one out and no runners on base, before successfully stealing the second base. Hwang, who advanced to the third base when Ko Seung-min grounded out to the second base, failed to make it home as Son Ho-young struck out.
Hwang was impeccable in hitting the base. He played leadoff and succeeded in getting on base four times, including three hits. By adding two more stolen bases, he became the first Lotte player to hit 50 bases in 14 years since Kim Joo-chan (65 steals) in 2010. He is the fourth player (third) to hit base after Jeon Joon-ho (75 steals in 1993 and 69 steals in 1995).
However, Hwang Sung-bin’s brilliant performance also eventually obscured the poor base running and diving catch from the disappointing judgment.
After losing for two consecutive games, Lotte ranked seventh with 62 wins, 4 draws and 70 losses (0.470 win rate) is now in a situation where it can barely match the winning rate of 50 percent only when it wins all eight remaining games. The gap between the fifth-ranked KT Wiz (69 wins, 2 draws and 68 losses, 2 draws and 0.504) and the sixth-ranked SSG Landers (66 wins, 2 draws and 68 losses), which has been on the rise for four consecutive games, has widened to 4.5 games and is also three games behind the sixth-ranked SSG Landers (66 wins, 2 draws and 68 losses), which has been on the rise for four consecutive games. Having lost two games at home due to regrettable mistakes for two consecutive days, Lotte is more likely to remain a dream that fall baseball will not be able to achieve this year.
