The Kiwoom Heroes bounced back from a Friday loss on Saturday, defeating the Lotte Giants 3-1. The game saw the Heroes get ahead early with runs over Giants starter Noh Kyung-eun. The win tied up the series hosted by the Giants at the Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan, South Korea.
The win for the Heroes took place on Liberation Day, a national holiday in South Korea.
Heroes Take The Lead
Early runs were proven to be enough for the Heroes, as the team held onto a lead following scoring plays in the second and third innings.
The Heroes scored their first two runs in the second inning, as hits from Heo Jeong-yeop and Lee Ji-young scored runs. An inning later, Kim Woong-bin scored the third run for the team.
Starters Given Decisions
The runs came against starter Noh Kyung-eun, who was given the loss for his six-inning performance. The veteran pitcher got his 2020 record evened at 4-4, being given his first loss since mid-June.
On the other side, Heroes starter Lee Seung-ho got a win for his 100-pitch and near eight-inning shutout performance. Allowing only five hits and one walk, Lee got his second consecutive win, making his 2020 record 4-4.
Lee Allows A Run, Gets 20th Save
The Giants had a late push against Heroes reliever Jo Sang-woo, loading up the bases and even scoring a run before the game ended. The sole run was a ground ball by Min Byung-hun. The play and the run coming in was kept alive by Dixon Machado, who survived a rundown between first and second base to avoid the third out and keep the inning alive. Jo finished the inning in the next at-bat by striking out Heo Il.
While the ninth-inning performance from reliever Jo allowed a run, he was given his 20th save of the season, the most by any KBO pitcher in 2020 so far.
Giants Remain In Sixth
The Giants retained their sixth-place spot in the KBO on Saturday despite a loss that moved their record to 40-37-1. The trailing team, the KT Wiz who have a record of 41-38-1, also lost their Saturday game, stopping them from overtaking the Giants.
The tiebreaking game between the Giants and Heroes will happen tomorrow, with the first pitch at 5:00PM KST (4:00AM EDT).
Around The KBO
Scoring numerous runs early, the Kia Tigers won their Saturday game 10-3 over the SK Wyverns.
After eight scoreless innings, a two-run home run in the ninth by Kim Dong-yeop gave the Samsung Lions a 2-0 win over the Hanhwa Eagles.
After scoring 10 runs in the first three innings, the LG Twins were able to glide to a 13-4 win over the NC Dinos.
In the bottom of the ninth with two outs, the Doosan Bears were trailing the KT Wiz by one run. Giving them a walk-off win, Kuk Hae-sung hit a three-run home run that gave the team a 7-5 win.
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