It was literally the ‘7th inning of a nightmare’. Kiwoom Heroes, whose bullpen collapsed, fell into a 4-game losing streak.
Kiwoom knelt 5-6 in a home game against the Lotte Giants in the 2023 professional baseball KBO League held at Gocheok Sky Dome in Guro-gu, Seoul on the 27th.
The atmosphere until the middle was definitely not bad. Kiwoom’s other line was tightly tied to opposing starting pitcher Charlie Barnes, but Choi Won-tae, who took the mound as a starting pitcher, also effectively blocked Lotte’s line-up and tightened the flow.
However, a nightmare came to Kiwoom in the 7th inning when Choi Won-tae went down from the mound. Kiwoom chose left-hander Kim Jae-woong as the second pitcher. Kim Jae-woong was currently Kiwoom’s most reliable bullpen resource, to the extent that head coach Hong Won-ki, head coach, said before the game that day, “If it’s important, I can go out in the 7th inning.”
However, Kim Jae-woong failed to live up to the expectations of the commander. The first hitter, pinch hitter Yoon Dong-hee, was put to sleep with a second baseman fly, but the root cause was that Noh Jin-hyeok gave an infield hit to the pitcher. He was also hit by Han Dong-hee in the left field and was driven to 1st and 2nd base, and eventually allowed Kang-nam Yoo to hit a RBI double in the middle right.
Kim Jae-woong could hardly find stability. He also dedicated two RBIs and timely hits to the left center to the follow-up batter Ahn Kwon-soo. Then Kiwoom immediately put in right-handed sidearm Kim Dong-hyuk.먹튀검증
However, even Kim Dong-hyuk could not block the firepower of Lotte’s lineup. Ahn Kwon-soo stole second base and Kim Min-seok advanced base, and Park Seung-wook hit a timely double with an RBI that fell to the left of the left fielder at second out and third base. Afterwards, Jeon Jun-woo was hit by his body and allowed an RBI, a timely infield hit that flowed toward the second baseman.
The ordeal continued. Kim Dong-hyeok, who even got a heavy hit from follow-up batter Ahn Chi-hong, bowed his head with a one-run left-handed hit from Yoon Dong-hee in the 2nd 1st and 2nd base connected in this way. Afterwards, Kim Jun-hyeong, who climbed the mound, induced Noh Jin-hyeok to fly the second baseman and ended the inning with difficulty, but it was only after giving up 6 runs in an instant. It was a very regrettable moment considering that the silent Kiwoom lineup succeeded in scoring 5 points at the end of the 9th inning.
Kiwoom got caught up in the bullpen he trusted. The results were so painful. As a result, Kiwoom, who fell into a quagmire of 4 consecutive losses, took 28 losses (19 wins) and stayed in 8th place.