He showed off his huge presence with a home run. Not only was his home run amazing, but his ceremony was also good enough to attract fans of Samsung.
This is the story of Lewin Diaz, a foreign hitter from Mexico who wore a Samsung Lions uniform as a “buzzer beater” after many twists and turns.
Samsung, led by head coach Park Jin-man, won a thrilling 5-3 come-from-behind victory at home against the Lotte Giants in the “2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League” at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on the 23rd.
With the victory, the team recorded 65 wins, 53 losses and two draws (0.551), and on the same day widened its gap versus the third-ranked LG Twins (62 wins, 54 losses and two draws) against the Kiwoom Heroes to two games, securing the No. 2 spot. The gap with the leading KIA Tigers (70 wins, 47 losses and two draws), which lost to the NC Dinos on Sunday, is 5.5 games.
It was a day when Samsung’s firepower, which ranks first in KBO home runs this season, shone once again. Samsung turned the tide with two home runs.
After Hwang Sung-bin, who had a heavy hit in the top of the first inning, drove in a grounder, and made it 1-0 when Son Ho-young hit a sacrifice fly. However, Samsung turned the tables with 3-1 when Kang Min-ho, who is in his prime this year, hit a three-run homer over the fence in left-center at the bottom of the fourth inning.
Then, Lotte, ranked eighth, did not give up hope to advance to the fall baseball league, which is doing its best to advance to the fifth round, made it 3-3 in the top of the sixth inning when Ko Seung-min hit a superior two-run home run and brought the game to square one.
Diaz’s cool shot exploded as soon as the “Rapak (Samsung Lions Park)” crowd felt like entering the extension.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Diaz hit Lotte’s second pitcher Park Jin’s four-ball 142km fastball with a ball count of 1B 2S with one out and one out, shot a 130-meter large two-run home run that went well over the fence in the right-center and hit the top of the outfield stand, and scored a 5-3 lead. Samsung, which took the lead, ended the game with Kim Jae-yoon, who is taking the mound as a new closer as Oh Seung-hwan went down to the second division.
Kang Min-ho’s three-run shot was spectacular, but we can’t help but praise Diaz for his two-run shot. In particular, Diaz watched his hit with his eyes wide open without putting down his bat as if he felt the home run as soon as he hit it, and slowly performed an appreciation ceremony to see the trajectory. Lapak fans even gave a standing ovation to see the foreign hitter standing still and watching the home run like a statue.
Then, Diaz joined the dugout and shared a folder ceremony with Won Tae-in. The winners of the 2024 Paris Olympics took selfies with their official partner Samsung Electronics’ new folder phone on the podium, which was given to Samsung Lions players right before joining the team. Knowing this, Diaz did a folder ceremony where his hands folded and unfolded while looking at the TV camera, and made a folder 2 with his fingers as if asking for two. 메이저놀이터
Samsung gave Diaz a folder phone after the game.
Diaz is Samsung’s third foreign hitter this year after David McKinnon and Ruben Cardenas. Samsung barely brought him in on the 15th, the deadline for foreign registration, when Cardenas hit two out-of-the-park home runs and lied down, saying his back hurt.
Diaz made his debut on the Korean stage against the NC Dinos on the 17th, and he hit a home run from the first game with one hit (one home run) in four at-bats.
However, he remained silent in the match against NC Dinos on Wednesday, with no hits in four times at bat, and his batting order gradually went down to No. 6. He returned to the batter’s box as fourth batter after the game against Lotte Giants, and made a dramatic two-run shot in the eighth inning following a hit in front of right field in the fourth inning, adding to the power of Samsung’s home run corps.
