Defense didn’t help. Lotte Giants’ Park Se-woong (pitcher) continued to struggle.
Park started the game against the Kiwoom Heroes at the Gocheok Sky Dome on Sept. 9. He was pulled early after failing to complete three innings.
In the bottom of the third inning, with runners on first and second, he gave way to second pitcher Choi Yi-jun. The Lotte bats took the first run of the day and took the pressure off Park’s shoulders.
Nico Goodrum hit an infield sacrifice fly off Kiwoom starter Ariel Furado in the top of the first inning to give the Giants a 1-0 lead. Park Se-woong also got off to a crisp start.
In the bottom of the first inning, he was hit by a pitch to Kim Hye-sung but got out of the inning unscathed. However, back-to-back errors in the defense caught up with him.
Park ran into trouble in the bottom of the second inning. He walked the leadoff batter, Song Sung-moon, and then walked Lee Joo-hyung to put runners on first and second with no outs. The defense didn’t help Park either.
The next batter, Kim Tae-jin, hit a grounder to first base, and Lotte first baseman Ko Seung-min threw to second to pick off Lee Joo-hyung at first base. Shortstop Gudrum, who was covering the bases, caught the ball and Lee was thrown out at second. However, Gudrum made an error on the throw back to first base. The ball fell behind first base.
Song Sung-moon, who had stolen third, came home to tie the game at 1-1. Park Se-woong induced Kim Dong-heon to ground out to end the inning.
However, he faltered in the bottom of the inning when he gave up a leadoff single to Lee Yong-kyu and a walk to Kim Hye-sung. Kiwoom took a 2-1 lead and added a run in the inning.
Park gave himself a breather by striking out Kim Hwi-jip, but was further shaken by an error by Ko Seung-min off the bat of Lee Ju-hyung. Kiwoom took advantage, bringing two runners home. Park kept his head down as he gave up a two-run single to the next batter, Kim Tae-jin.
Then, the Lotte dugout couldn’t wait any longer. They switched to their second pitcher, Choi Yi-jun. Choi got out of the inning without allowing another run. Kiwoom completed the big inning with a five-run homer to extend the lead to 6-1.메이저놀이터
Park ended the night with six runs (three earned) on 70 pitches in 2.1 innings with three walks and one strikeout. He had gone four starts without a win dating back to last month (July). If Lotte fails to score and loses, Park will take the loss. It would be his fourth straight loss in late-game starts.