Wild Pitch Gives Giants Extra Innings Win In Home Opener

The Lotte Giants won their home opener on Friday, going into extra innings against the SK Wyverns. A late start from the Giants, which has been a trend in their games lately, allowed the team to tie up a high scoring game and end it in the 10th inning.

A wild pitch was the deciding factor in the end, with An Chi-hong coming in from third to close the game out with a score of 9-8 in the 10th inning.

The win came without a crowd at the Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan, South Korea. Four games into the season, the Giants have won all of their games thus far.

A Quick Start For Wyverns

Wyverns first got on the board in the second inning with a series of hits bringing in runs. It started with a hit to the left-center gap from Jung Hyun who brought home Kim Chang-pyung.

Hyun was brought in by Jeong Jin-gi, and a hit from Ko Jong-wook scored Jeong in for the third run, putting the team up 3-0 in total.

A solo homerun by Giants second baseman An Chi-hong in the bottom of the third shortened the lead to two.

Further Extending The Lead

Three-straight innings saw the Wyverns extend their lead by one run each time. In the fourth, Jeong Jin-gi got his second RBI of the game, bringing in Kim Chang-pyung.

The fifth inning saw Wyverns right fielder Han Dong-min get his third homerun of the year, this time being a solo shot to make the score 5-1.

Veteran Giants starter Noh Kyung-eun was pulled after the fifth inning, giving up nine hits and five runs.

A sacrifice fly from Jeong Jin-gi in the sixth brought in another run for the Wyverns.

Giants Close Gap, Tie Game

The bats of the Giants picked back up in the sixth, with a solo homerun from Jeon Jun-woo kicking off a rally.

Later that inning, Lee Dae-ho hit a ball into right field, allowing Son Ah-seop to make the trek from first all the way to home.

A hit from Dixon Machado brought home the third run of the inning for the Giants. Wyverns starter Moon Seung-won, who was starting his seventh year for the team, was pulled before the fifth ended. He finished with seven strikeouts, giving up nine hits and four runs.

After the Giants brought in reliever Park Shi-young, the seventh inning started with Wyverns third baseman Choi Jeong hitting a solo homerun into center. Later that inning, Jamie Romak was brought home off of a sacrifice fly from Han, bringing the game to a score of 8-4 for the Wyverns.

The Giants had another three-run inning in the seventh, starting with a sacrifice fly from Son bringing in Min. Only a pitch later, Lee took a ball into the right field grandstands for a two-run homerun, limiting the Wyverns to only one run.

Finally catching back up to the Wyverns in the eighth inning, Giants shortstop Dixon Machado hit his second homerun of the season.

Extra Innings Prove Successful For Giants

After a scoreless ninth, the game went into extra innings. Capitalizing on a wild pitch, An Chi-hong came home from third base and ended the game.

Kim Joo-han, who pitched in the 10th inning was given his first loss of the year. In the 2019 season, Joo-han appeared in 11 games for the Wyverns, finishing with an 5.25 ERA.

Koo Seung-min, a Giants reliever who pitched the 10th inning was awarded the win for the game, pitching a strikeout and leaving the inning without allowing a hit.

The second game in the three-game home series kicks off tomorrow at 5:00PM KST (4:00AM EDT), however, an early forecast of Busan predicts rain affecting the game.

Around The KBO

A three-run homerun from Oh Sun-jin in the seventh inning allowed the Kiwoom Heroes to finish with a 5-3 win over the Hanhwa Eagles.

Lead by Choi Chae-heung, a strong pitching performance from the Samsung Lions allowed the team to get a 5-0 shutout win against the Kia Tigers. The win is the first for the Lions this season.

A high-scoring matchup in favour of the KT Wiz quickly put a win out of the picture for the hosting Doosan Bears. The Wiz, who got swept in their home series with the Giants, walked away from this game with a 12-3 win.

In a real batter’s game, the home NC Dinos got a 13-5 win over the LG Twins. Along with the Giants, the Dinos are one of the only two teams that remain undefeated at 4-0.

Giants Sweep Opening Series Against Wiz

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.

Early Rally Seals Second Win on The Road For Giants

The Lotte Giants chipped away at the pitching of the KT Wiz on Wednesday en route to a 9-4 victory at the Suwon KT Wiz Park. Among numerous scoring plays was an explosive third inning which brought the lead to six runs for the away team.

Following two runs that were batted in previously in the third inning, Jung Hoon took a ball into the stands in left field to put up three more runs for the team.

The win went to starter Seo Jun-won, who pitched six innings for the Giants, allowing five hits and one run. Only putting up two strikeouts, his performance relied heavily on the overall defence of the team.

Returning for his second year for the Wiz, William Cuevas pitched five innings to start, giving up six hits and runs, earning five strikeouts.

Getting The Early Lead

Min Byung-hun started the game off quick for the Giants with a double. A sacrifice fly from Son Ah-seop brought him in from third base later on.

In the third inning, a hit from Son batted Byung-hun home yet again A sacrifice fly from Lee Dae-ho allowed Jeon Jun-woo to score later that inning, advancing the Giants lead to three.

The rally ended with a bang, as Jung belted a three-run home run to left field, doubling the lead.

Wiz Get on The Board

Wiz scored their first run in the sixth, with a ground ball giving Yoo Han-joon the chance to come home from third. He advanced to the position after an error off of a hit from Mel Rojas Jr.

The entrance of Giants reliever Park Shi-young in the seventh inning kicked off a series of hits for the Wiz. They earned their second run after a hit to left field from Sim Woo-jun took Kang Min-gook to the home plate. A sacrifice fly in the next play scored another runner, tightening the game to within three runs.

Sealing The Deal

A sacrifice fly in the eighth inning from Jung Bo-geun allowed Dixon Machado to advance to home, moving the score to 7-3 for the Giants.

Bringing the score within three again for Wiz, Park Kyung-soo shot a ball into the grandstands in the eighth.

An insurance run in the ninth came in the form of a double from Jeon that took Min to the plate, making the game 8-4 for the Giants. Another run came in later in the evening after a pitch went past Wiz catcher Kang Hyeon-woo.

Pursuing A Sweep

The win puts the Giants up by two in the series with the Wiz. Giants are one of the three teams to start the season 2-0, including NC Dinos and Kiwoom Heroes. The final game in the series is set to be played tomorrow at 6:30PM KST (5:30AM EDT).

Around The KBO

After being tied through seven innings, the Kiwoom Heroes outscored the Kia Tigers in the eighth to go on and win 3-2.

An early series of runs scored against Samsung Lions starter Ben Lively proved hard to bounce back from, with the home team dropping 4-3 against the NC Dinos.

After a strong pitching performance from Ricardo Pinto held the Hanwha Eagles scoreless through five, early runs for the SK Wyverns allowed them to coast to a 5-2 victory.

A five-run third inning for the Doosan Bears was enough for the defending champions to earn their first win of the season, defeating the LG Twins 5-2.

Series of Homeruns Earn Lotte Giants Opening Day Win Over KT Wiz

A seventh-inning three-run homerun from Dixon Machado put an early pitching battle in the rearview mirror for the Lotte Giants, helping give them a 7-2 win over the KT Wiz on KBO opening day.

The win came without a live audience at the Suwon KT Wiz Park due to precautions as South Korea slowly comes out of a COVID-19 quarantine.

The Big Plays

Wiz first got on the board in the second inning, with an error in fielding a ground ball by Han Dong-hee bringing Yoo Han-joon home.

The Giants came back with a run of their own in the fifth, with Machado bringing Hoon Jung in with a hit.

Kang Baek-ho launched a ball past right field for a homerun that put the Wiz back ahead

Giants moved up to a 4-2 lead in the seventh inning after Machado hit a three-run homerun against reliever Kim Jae-yoon.

Jeon Jun-woo got his own two-run homer an inning later over Wiz reliever Lee Sang-ha. Later in the eighth, a sacrifice fly from Jung Hoon brought Son Ah-seop in to score the seventh run.

Kim Wong-joon pitched the final three outs for the Giants, striking out two of the batters.

Strong Starters

Wiz pitcher Odrisamer Despaigne worked for six full innings, allowing six hits and earning eight strikeouts along the way. Despaigne made his KBO regular season debut in this game, playing with the Chicago White Sox in the 2019 season.

Giants starter Dan Straily allowed only three hits before being pulled late in the sixth. Similar to the Wiz starter, Straily made his first KBO appearance in this game.

The game started just over an hour late due to rain delay, making it the latest starting game of the five on the matchday, among many which were delayed by rain.

The second game of the series between the Giants and Wiz has a start time of 6:30PM KST (5:30AM EDT).

Around The KBO

On the road, the Hanhwa Eagles kicked off their season with a 3-0 win over SK Wyverns. Wyverns were limited to two hits in nine innings by Warwick Saupold, who enters his second season as an Eagle.

LG Twins sealed win over defending champions Doosan Bears after an eighth-inning rally extending their lead by five runs. The game ended with Twins on top 8-2.

Broadcasted to American fans on ESPN, NC Dinos put on a homerun show, hitting three into the stands for a 4-0 win over the Samsung Lions.

A late rally wasn’t enough for the Kia Tigers, who fell 11-2 at home against the Kiwoon Heroes.