A string of strong innings late against starter Warwick Stauphold helped give the Lotte Giants a 9-3 win against the Hanhwa Eagles. The loss was the 15th-straight for the Eagles, who have recently demoted 10 players to the minor leagues following the departure of manager Han Yong-duk.
The game continued the now 4-0 home stretch for the Giants at the Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan, Korea.
Along with many Eagles players that had only appeared a few times this year, the lineup for the team included six players that were making their first KBO appearance this year.
Giants Gets Seven on Sauphold
After a few scoreless innings, the Giants had a strong fourth and fifth inning that gave them the lead. Hits from Oh Yoon-suk, Kim Joon-tae and Dixon Machado put the club up by four runs.
An explosive two-run home run from Lee Dae-ho in the next inning extended the lead further. Lee, a former MLB player and long-time Giant, currently leads the club in RBIs. A hit later in the inning from Jeon Jun-woo brought in the seventh run for the team.
Jeon picked up another RBI in the sixth, bringing a runner home from a hit that came against Moon Dong-wook.
Being given his third-straight loss, Warwick Sauphold gave up seven runs and 13 hits before being pulled from the game. The 30-year-old played his shortest game of the season so far, having gone around six or seven innings in most games before.
The final run of the game for the Giants came in the eighth, with Son Ah-seop driving a runner to the plate, making the game 9-3.
Sampson Has Best Start Yet
After two previously rough starts, Giants pitcher Adrian Sampson got his first win of the year in a game that took him into the seventh inning. He allowed nine hits, getting three strikeouts over six and two thirds.
Sampson was pulled in the seventh inning after giving up three runs, including a solo home run from Jared Hoying and a two-run hit from pinch hitter Park Jung-hyun.
An inning each from Song Seung-jun and Lee In-bok closed the show for the Giants.
Giants Approaching Fifth
Winning their Tuesday game, the Giants evened their record with the Eagles this season to 2-2. As mentioned before however, the Eagles are a much different team than when they last faced off in mid-May.
Having dipped down to the bottom half of the KBO standings a few weeks ago, a streak of wins have put the Giants half a game behind fifth place, which is the Kia Tigers. With a 7-24 record, the Eagles sit last place in the KBO.
Two more games will be played between the Eagles and Giants this week. The Wednesday game has a start time of 6:30PM KST (5:30AM EDT).
Around The KBO
Bouncing back from a sweep against the Bears, the Kia Tigers earned a 3-2 victory on the road against the KT Wiz on Tuesday.
Continuing their pattern of high-scoring victories, the NC Dinos got a 12-8 win versus the Doosan Bears. A successful series for the Dinos would distance their closest challenger for the top of the KBO standings, as the second-place Bears are already five games behind.
In a game that utilized 12 pitchers in total (six from each team), the Kiwoom Heroes prevailed over the Samsung Lions 5-3.
Going into extra innings, a rally from the SK Wyverns helped give them a 5-3 win against the LG Twins.
JackWannan.com 