“We were able to come back because the players never gave up and stayed focused”
The Lotte Giants pulled off a thrilling 6-1 victory over the Kia Tigers of the 2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League at Sajik Stadium in Busan on April 21 in the third home game of the season between the two teams. The team's strong concentration in the final innings shone through in the upset.
Before the game, head coach Kim Tae-hyung praised James Nail, who started for KIA. Despite being the opposing team, there was a reason why he was 5-1 with a 1.83 ERA in nine appearances before this game. “He's got good left- and right-handed stuff, and it's all about how much he hits the ball. It's hard to hit balls that come in from the left and right side of the strike zone. When a pitch comes in, you have to make it a good pitch to have a chance.”
Lotte had a total of three scoring chances against Kia's Ace Nail, but were unable to capitalize on any of them. However, this did not affect the pitching of Charlie Barnes, Lotte's left-hander. In fact, Barnes was even more focused with no support from the bats, throwing 93 pitches with five hits, two walks, seven strikeouts, and one earned run (one earned) in 7⅔ innings to earn his third win of the season with a Quality Start+ (three earned runs or less in seven innings).
The Lotte bats, which hadn't done much in the middle of the game, caught fire in the final inning. In the bottom of the seventh inning, after Noh Jin-hyuk was hit by a pitch and pinch-hitters Kim Min-sung and Hwang Sung-bin singled, Yoon Dong-hee 스포츠토토 hit a back-to-back RBI double, then stole second and third on a wild pitch by Kia's new pitcher Choi Ji-min to drive in all the runners to make it 4-1 in favor of Nachin Kim. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Yoo Kang-nam hit a two-run shot off Kia's Kim Min-jae, who was making his debut on the day, to seal the win.
While Yoon Dong-hee led the way with four hits, two doubles, two RBIs, one run scored and one walk, and Yoo Kang-nam went 3-for-4 with one home run, two RBIs, one run scored and one walk, there was another player who played well behind the scenes. That would be Jang Doo-sung. Entering the game as a pinch-hitter in the final inning, Jang made his presence felt, going 1-for-2 with two runs scored and two stolen bases. Jeon also pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of Barnes to earn his first career save.
Manager Kim Tae-hyung said after the game, “Barnes pitched well, and Jeon did a good job in relief. The batting lineup was focused until the end, and thanks to Yoo Kang-nam's home run, we were able to stabilize the game, and the defense did a great job,” he said.
“Most importantly, it's good to start the series with a win in the middle of the week. We were able to come back from behind because the players didn't give up and stayed focused in a close game,” he said of the victory over leader KIA.