The Korean team was forced to leave the mound early on in protest against the result of video review. Why do the Doosan Bears get smaller this season when they meet the Samsung Lions.
The Doosan Bears of professional baseball lost 5-9 in Game 10 of the season against the Samsung Lions of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on the 12th.
Prior to the series, Doosan was in an absolute inferiority complex with one win and eight losses to Samsung. As a result, manager Lee Seung-yeop gave Kwak Bin, who was scheduled to take the mound during the week at the KT Wiz Series in Suwon, to take his first mound in the second half of the year on Wednesday. He also deployed the new foreign pitcher duo Shirakawa Kisho on Thursday and Jordan Balazovic on Friday, making all-out preparations to win the match against Samsung. “I don’t know why they are sending us all the first, second and third starters,” Samsung manager Park Jin-man said with a puzzled smile.
However, the coach’s ambitious plan went awry from day one. Kwak Bin, the “native ace” who took a break for a week, collapsed early on due to five hits (one homer) and four walks, two strikeouts and six runs (five earned) in three ⅓ innings. He sent out the leadoff hitter in every inning from the first inning to the fourth inning, and lost a point. He gave up four runs in the first inning due to Koo Ja-wook’s RBI ground ball, An Ju-hyeong’s RBI timely hit in the second inning, and Lee Sung-kyu’s two-run shot in the third inning, before being replaced by Lee Byung-hun in the crisis with one out and runners on the second and third bases with one out caused by walks and hits in the fourth inning.
Kwak even suffered the bad luck that both successors stepped home. While Lee Byung-hun (Doosan) was dealing with Lee Jae-hyun, a pinch hitter, caused a foil, and third baseman Yoon Jung-bin homered, and while second baseman Lee Byung-hun (Samsung) moved to third base, Lee Byung-hun (Doosan) received a sacrifice fly to center field. Then, Park Chi-guk, a changed pitcher in the eighth inning when his team was trailing 4-6, gave up the win by donating a two-run homer to Kang Min-ho, a pinch hitter.
Doosan did not back down and Yang Seok-hwan, the leadoff hitter, hit a big hit toward the center wall of the Samsung’s must-win group Kim Jae-yoon in the bottom of the eighth inning. Choi Young-joo’s first home run decision appeared to narrow the gap to 5-8.
Samsung’s bench immediately asked for a video review regarding the judgment of a home run ball. On the slow screen, it was confirmed that the ball hit the yellow bar at the top of the central fence, and the umpires corrected Yang Seok-hwan’s home run to a triple.
Then manager Lee Seung-yeop immediately stepped off the bench to protest the video review result. He said it was unfair to rule out Yang Seok-hwan, who already homered by playing through the entire game despite the chaos. However, the result did not change despite the lengthy protest, and Lee was sent off due to video review protest in accordance with KBO regulations. It was his third exit of this season.
Doosan eventually scored on Kim Ki-yeon’s sacrifice fly after Yang Seok-hwan, who entered the dugout, moved to the third base. However, as the team kneeled down to Samsung with the final score of 5-9, the gap with second-ranked Samsung widened to one game.
The most painful thing is the six-game losing streak against Samsung.
Doosan lost to Samsung in the three consecutive games in Daegu from April 16 to April 18 this year. It moved to Jamsil on April 30 to win the game 4-0, but lost the game one win and two losses in a row on May 1. Since then, Doosan lost the entire series in the three consecutive games in Daegu from June 21 to 23, sending the team to one win and eight losses. It lost a doubleheader on April 23.
This widened Doosan’s record against Samsung to one win and nine losses this year. Even if Doosan wins all six of their remaining matches, Doosan will end the year with seven wins and nine losses.
“When I play against Doosan, Doosan is really strong,” veteran catcher Kang Min-ho of the Samsung Lions said of his strength in the game after winning the game on Wednesday. “The mound is great, but when Doosan meets us, I feel like I’m getting twisted. I don’t feel like we’re especially good against Doosan. It was cool to see the two teams battle each other very hard. Both Doosan and Samsung had good games.” 메이저놀이터
