The Samsung Lions are in a bad way.
The Samsung Lions, coached by Park Jin-man, lost their eighth game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League against the KT Wiz 5-6 at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on Sunday, their fifth straight loss. A second consecutive best-of-seven series has been finalized.
With the loss, Samsung fell to 25-36 on the season. If Hanwha wins the game between the Kiwoom Heroes and Hanwha Eagles at the same time, Samsung will drop to last place. In the history of the KBO, Samsung has never finished last in a season.
Samsung got off to a shaky start on the day, falling behind KT by one run, but rallied for three runs in the fifth inning off starter William Cuevas. This was followed by a strong pitching performance from starter Baek Jeong-hyun, and they were cruising.
However, the seventh inning was the key. Baek Jung-hyun worked well until the second out of the seventh inning. He then gave up a single up the middle to Hwang Jae-gyun. The bases were loaded with two outs. Kang Hyun-woo followed with a single to left-center. Left fielder Jose Pirela slid to make the catch, but it bounced off his glove. The ball was hidden in the lights, and the catch was ruled a double, not an error. In the end, the inning didn’t end, but there were runners on second and third.
Baek Jung-hyun walked Jang Jang-woo to load the bases and faced another pinch-hitter, but he couldn’t get the ball over the plate and gave up a run. He then gave up a double to Jang Jun-won. The Samsung bench pulled Baek Jung-hyun and brought up Kim Dae-woo.
Dae-woo couldn’t break the bad streak. He was replaced by Anthony Alford. Alford batted and shortstop Lee Jae-hyun made a throwing error. Jang Jun-won, who was at second base with the bases loaded, took advantage of the gap and rounded third base to come home. Only after Jung Jun-young flied out to left field did the inning end.
Samsung tried to capitalize in the eighth and ninth innings, but it wasn’t easy. They walked Park Young-hyun in the eighth and Kim Jae-yoon in the ninth to bring in two runs, but it wasn’t enough to pull off the upset.
The Samsung defense continued to disappoint this week. They committed a total of four errors in the three-game midweek series against the LG Twins in Jamsil, and three errors the day before helped them come back from 5-0 to lose 6-7.
Again, a poor defensive performance was followed by a fielding error that gave the opposition a big inning. The bad form continues.스포츠토토
Before the game, coach Park Jin-man said, “We’re young players, and we’re playing under pressure, so we’re making mistakes. I hope the players will prepare thoroughly and show their concentration to avoid repeating the mistakes.”
How will Samsung get out of this crisis?