The Samsung Lions accumulated six runs for what ended to be a 6-1 victory over the hosting Lotte Giants on Saturday. The game which happened at the Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan, Korea saw the Giants avoid a shutout in the very last inning.
The win is the second straight for the Lions, who won an extra-innings outing over the Giants on Friday 6-4.
Lee Earns Two RBIs
The Lions got ahead early off of two different plays lead by Lee Sung-gon.
Lee started the second inning with a solo home run to left-center. The home run was his first of the year. An inning later, Lee drove home Park Hae-min to make the game 2-0. The play moved Lee’s number of RBIs in 2020 to double digits (10).
Sampson Out After Five
The Lions strung together a rally in the sixth that took Giants starter Adrian Sampson out of the game. The pitcher was pulled after a hit from Kim Dong-yeop drove a runner home.
Sampson was given the loss for the game after allowing eight hits and four runs. Sampson’s record moved to 2-4, as he’s been one of the pitchers for the Busan team that’s had trouble early in the season. He currently has a 6.16 ERA, the highest among the starting rotation.
Scoring Continues Against Relievers
Two more pitchers played in the sixth inning before the Giants could wrap it up. First it was Lee In-bok who allowed two hits. Park Shi-young closed out the inning facing two batters. The first of the two was Kim Ji-chan, who scored a runner through a sacrifice bunt.
Furthering their then-shutout lead, the Lions put two more runs on the board in the eighth inning. First, a hit from Kim Heon-gon scored a run. The next batter, Kang Min-ho, drove home another to make the game 6-0. The runs came against Park Myeong-hyeon, who’s ERA inflated to a 27.00 after since it was only his second KBO game.
Lions Pitching Holds Giants Until Late
While the Giants lost by a wide margin, the team avoided a shutout in the ninth inning after a hit from Dixon Machado drove home Jeon Jun-woo. The run came against Jang Ji-hoon, who finished the game for the Lions.
Apart from the singular run allowed late, it was a very successful evening on the mound for the Lions. Starter Baek Jung-hyun got his third win of the year after six innings, evening his 2020 record to 3-3. The starter earned six strikeouts and only allowed three hits.
Innings seven and eight were handled by Kim Yoon-soo and Noh Sung-ho. Only one run was allowed, coming against Kim in the seventh.
Lions Look For Sweep To End Week
The Giants are scheduled to host one more home game this week against the Lions with first pitch happening Sunday at 5:00PM KST (4:00AM EDT). The game, like the two before, could widen the gap between the sixth-place 24-23 Lions and the seventh-place 21-23 Giants.
Around The KBO
A game that only lasted two hours and 22 minutes saw the Kiwoom Heroes get a 2-0 victory over the Kia Tigers. Heroes starter Eric Jokisch had a strong outing, allowing only one hit through eight innings.
Pitcher Jung Chan-heon went all nine innings for the LG Twins, helping the team get a 3-0 win against the SK Wyverns.
A tied 3-3 game went quickly out of reach in the ninth for the NC Dinos, as the hosting Doosan Bears scored nine runs to win 12-3. The series between the two top KBO teams is now tied 1-1.
The KT Wiz had good batting throughout their nine-inning game against the Hanhwa Eagles. The Wiz bounced back from their previous loss with a 7-2 win.
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