The Doosan Bears, who couldn’t just step back from “Jamsil Derby,” also missed the victory in the second game of the series. The losing streak was longer.
Doosan fell into a four-game losing 안전놀이터 streak with a 6-7 loss to the LG Twins in Game 9 of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the 29th, and its season performance was 44 wins, one draw, and 40 losses (0.524).
Despite the “hot heat” of more than 30 degrees Celsius, 21,126 spectators visited the baseball stadium to cheer for players from both teams. As much as the players, fans had a strong will to escape the losing streak.
However, the game began to get twisted in the process of allowing the first run. Doosan, which had maintained a balance of 0 with LG until the end of the fourth inning, dedicated a large number of runs with an unexpected variable in the top of the fifth inning.
It was none other than Yang Eui-ji, the main catcher, who caused the crisis. In the top of the fourth inning, the second pitcher Kim Myung-shin came up with one out and runners on first and second base, and catcher Yang Eui-ji failed to catch the three-ball fastball thrown to Shin Min-jae and spilled it back. The official record was Yang Eui-ji’s fast ball (foil).
Doosan, who took a breather with Shin Min-jae’s strikeout, chose to play against Moon Sung-joo by sending Hong Chang-ki with an automatic four-ball, but became a “shake.” With two outs and a full base, Moon Sung-joo hit a left-handed hit, and third baseman Moon Bo-kyung and second baseman Park Hae-min scored one after another. On top of that, first baseman Hong Chang-ki rushed home.
In the case of Hong Chang-ki, the original trial was out, but the decision was reversed as safe after a video reading request from the LG bench. The reading center, which even looked into the situation related to the home collision, judged that catcher Yang Eui-ji blocked Hong Chang-ki’s hand, who tried to slide.
Then Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop kicked out of the dugout and strongly expressed his dissatisfaction. There was no way not to know that dissatisfaction with the video reading results led to a exit, but he continued to protest for a while at the risk of being sent off. In addition, Doosan dedicated one more point with a timely RBI by follow-up hitter Kim Hyun-soo, widening the gap between the two teams to 0-4.
Considering LG’s must-win group, the four-point gap was never a small gap, but Doosan, which had to play without the head coach, immediately started chasing. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Kang Seung-ho’s hit ball and Yang Chan-yeol and Park Joon-young hit a full base with no outs, and Jung Soo-bin hit a timely RBI after Kim Tae-geun’s strikeout. Doosan’s first goal of the day.
In the ensuing two outs full base, Kim Jae-hwan called in two runners with a right-handed hit. However, the inning ended in vain as Kim Jae-hwan, who was careless with the right fielder’s throw to first base, was tagged out at first base. If he had led more innings, Doosan could have pushed LG more with two runners.
Doosan’s ordeal, which seemed to be approaching victory with one point in the bottom of the sixth inning and two points in the bottom of the eighth inning, is not over. The choice of Doosan Bench, which ran the game without a head coach, pushed Jung Chul-won, who finished the top of the eighth inning with nine balls, to the ninth inning was a “failure” as a result. Moon Bo-kyung’s double and Park Hae-min’s hit made it to first and third bases with one out, and shortstop Kim Jae-ho made a throwing error when Shin Min-jae hit, and third baseman Moon Bo-kyung stepped home.
When LG followed by one point, Doosan put Hong Gun-hee on the mound, but LG, which added one point when follow-up hitter Hong Chang-ki grounded out, balanced 6-6. At the top of the 10th inning, third baseman Huh Kyung-min failed to properly handle the ground ball hit by Oh Ji-hwan at third base with one out, allowing Doosan to turn the game around and delaying the escape from consecutive losses to the next game.
The number of officially recorded errors was 2, but loopholes were revealed here and there, including invisible mistakes.