A late rally of runs from the Lotte Giants against relievers earned them a 7-3 win over the KT Wiz, sweeping the opening week series. After the series at the Suwon KT Wiz Park, the Giants became one of the two KBO teams to start 3-0.
A seventh-inning homerun by Son Ah-seop gave the team the lead, with following runs acting as insurance for the team.
An Early Lead For The Wiz
Giants took a temporary lead by one run in the second inning, when Jung Bo-geun hit a ball just over the glove of a second baseman to bring Dixon Machado home.
Park Kyung-soo for the Wiz evened the score later that inning, bringing Yoo Han-joon in from third. Kyung-soo has had a strong start to his sixth season for the Wiz, hitting a solo homerun on the previous night.
Jang Sung-woo batted in Mel Rojas Jr. later in the inning with a single, giving the Wiz a one-run lead.
The small lead that the Wiz held was extended in the fifth inning with a wild pitch giving Bae Jeong-dae the chance to score.
Making his first start of the year, Giants pitcher Park Se-woong was pulled with one out left in the fifth. He allowed six hits through nearly five innings.
Late Rally To Win
Bae Je-seong, who was the starter for the Wiz was pulled after just over six innings of pitching. Starting off his senior year for the team, he allowed four hits.
Scoring opened back up for the Giants in the sixth, with Son hitting a three-run homerun to make the game 4-3.
Another run was put on the board in the eighth when Han Dong-hee hit a ball from Kim Jae-yoon into the outfield, bringing in Jung Hoon.
Coming into the game as a pinch hitter in the ninth, Kim Dong-han hit a ball into center which let Jung Hoon and Shin Bon-gi score.
The final four innings saw the Giants bring in a new reliever for each, with all pitchers holding Wiz hitless in that timeframe. This makes two perfect one-inning appearances this season for the team’s closer Kim Won-joong.
Back To Busan
Being 3-0 to start the season, the Giants share first place in the league’s standings with the NC Dinos, who are also undefeated.
The Giants are set to have their home opener tomorrow, opening a three-game series against the SK Wyverns. The first pitch for the Friday game is at 6:30PM KST (5:30AM EDT).
Around The KBO
Finishing the series in a sweep, the NC Dinos had hot bats against the Samsung Lions. An outstanding player was Park Min-woo, who got three hits and two RBIs from the top of the batting order. The final score was 8-2 for the Dinos.
After a back-and-forth start, hits from Park Kun-woo and Kim Jae-ho in the fourth inning helped the Doosan Bears pull ahead in what finished as a 9-3 win against the LG Twins.
After being down for the majority of the game, an explosive eighth inning including a three-run homerun from Preston Tucker helped give the Kia Tigers an 8-5 win over the Kiwoom Heroes.
A strong fifth and sixth inning from the Hanhwa Eagles allowed them to get a 8-4 win against the Kiwoom Heroes.
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