“Oh, I won today.”
SSG Landers has fallen to eighth place but is coming up again. It has caught the second-ranked Samsung Lions from 14th to 15th and the first-ranked KIA Tigers from 17th. KIA had a victory ceremony at SSG Landers Field on 17th, but it was a force for SSG.
Analysts say that SSG is in the middle to lower ranks this season due to a number of injuries, cracks on the mound and synergy of its batters. However, it is not easy to lose ground in the semi-finals. It lags behind KT Wiz in two games. 토토사이트
Manager Lee Soo-yong felt grateful to Han Yu-sum, a veteran player of the Incheon Samsung match, on Saturday. He had a slugfest with Samsung for two consecutive days, and faced off in the bottom of the eighth inning with a 10-9 lead in the game on Saturday. When Guillermo Herredia, the leadoff hitter, hit a double to the right-center field, Han Yu-sum entered the batter’s box. I watched the first pitch by Samsung’s right-hander Kim Jae-yoon. Two fastballs and a foul.
Afterwards, when Kim Jae-yoon’s three pitches were towards the body, Han Yu-sum laid down the bat and bunted it toward the first base. Kim hurriedly recovered the ball and increased the out count. SSG had a chance to hit the third base with one out. Lee Ji-young’s RBI double on the left-handed line, Ko Myung-joon’s RBI single in the middle of the left-handed line, and Oh Tae-gon’s two-run shot to the left-handed side.
Han’s sacrifice bunt was a “sudden surprise” and spontaneous. It was not his coach’s order. He was in a situation where he would bunt due to the flow of the game. However, Han displayed good batting performance on the day by garnering two doubles and two hits in the second and fourth innings. Despite the team’s sluggish performance this season, it had five hits in eight at-bats for four doubles in the two consecutive games against Samsung. Therefore, Lee’s strong pitching was also an understandable choice. Given the flow of the game, we could not guarantee victory even if we were to score one point anyway.
Still, coach Lee was impressed by how Han Yu-sum voluntarily sacrificed himself for the team. Ahead of the match against Kia Tigers in Incheon on Monday, Lee said, “This is what I saw most importantly. My autograph didn’t go out. I buntted with the base coach depending on the situation. I find it encouraging. This is a way for our team to become stronger. And I think it’s important how players play and how they play, but when I saw Yoo-sum bunt, I was confident that I won today.”
SSG will play eight consecutive games from Wednesday. The most important thing is two consecutive away games against KT, which ranks fifth, from May 21 to May 22, and an away game against Doosan, which ranks fourth, on May 23. Jihoon Choi, the flagship outfielder who left the team due to a major left retirement muscle injury in late August and went all the way to Ijima in Yokohama, Japan, has also started playing in the second division. He had no hit in three times at bat as the designated hitter at the match against the Hanwha Eagles on May 17. He will set a time soon when he will join the first division.
“Thanks to the players for their hard work despite the weather. Regardless of the outcome of the remaining 10 games (nine games to go), we should do our best. I am still agonizing over the rotation of starting pitchers for eight consecutive games. It is very encouraging that the team has recovered its batting performance,” Lee said.
