SSG Landers, the ‘defending champion’, won 4 consecutive victories and firmly maintained their lead.
SSG won 3-0 in an away game against the Hanwha Eagles in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League held at Daejeon Hanwha Life Insurance Eagles Park on the 9th, thanks to a good pitch by starter Kirk McCarty.
SSG, who recently won 4 consecutive wins, recorded 5메이저사이트 wins and 1 loss, keeping the sole lead. On the other hand, Hanwha, who fell into the swamp of three consecutive losses, remained in the bottom 10th.
The main contributor to the victory was foreign pitcher McCarty. McCarty took 4 strikeouts until the 6th inning and reported his first win (1 win, 1 loss) by blocking 1 hit and 2 walks with no runs.
McCarty, who was sluggish with 8 runs in 3⅓ innings against the KIA Tigers on the 2nd, his first start in the KBO League, became a completely different pitcher that day. There was no crisis to speak of, except for being driven to first and second base safely at the end of the third inning. He blocked four innings, including the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th innings, with a three-way offense.
SSG took the lead in the first inning with Choi Ji-hoon’s double in mid-month and Guillermo Erdia’s left-handed hit. In the top of the fourth inning, Heredia, who went on base due to an opponent’s error, succeeded in stealing second base, then stepped on the home base due to an opponent’s error and ran away 2-0. In the 5th inning, Choi Ji-hoon’s double and Choi Jeong’s timely hit added 1 point to win.
Heredia had 2 hits, 1 RBI and 1 steal in 4 at-bats that day. He recently led SSG’s winning streak by recording multi-hits in three consecutive games.
Hanwha only had 3 hits on the day. In the bottom of the 9th SSG, against Noh Kyung-eun, Roh Si-hwan and Chae Eun-seong picked up consecutive walks and took the chance to 1st and 2nd base safely, but Brian O’Grady, Jeong Eun-won, and Kim In-hwan struck out consecutively and were unable to prevent the loss.
Hanwha starter Pena blocked 5 innings with 4 Pingranta, 3 walks and 3 runs (2 earned), but did not receive help from the other line.
In Changwon, the NC Dinos defeated the Kiwoom Heroes 6-1 amid Song Myung-ki’s starting pitch. NC continued its upward trend with three consecutive wins, but Kiwoom fell into a quagmire of four consecutive losses.
Song Myung-ki blocked 6 ⅓ innings with 6 hits and 1 run (visa book) and harvested his first win of the season. On the other hand, Kiwoom foreign pitcher Ariel Hurado gave up 5 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits in 5⅓ innings, recording the second loss.
At Sajik Stadium in Busan, the Lotte Giants overcame the KT Wiz 5-3 and escaped from a three-game losing streak.
Lotte starter Na Kyun-an, who joined as a catcher in 2017 and turned to pitcher in 2021, blocked the KT strong hitting line with 7 scoreless innings and won his second win of the season. He allowed only 4 hits and 1 walk while striking out 8 and taking away 8.
At the end of the 7th inning, when the score was 0-0, Hwang Seong-bin hit a timely left-handed hit and scored the first point in the chance to secure first and third bases, created by Yu Kang-nam and Noh Jin-hyuk’s consecutive hits. Then, Kim Min-seok’s right-handed hit and Jack Rex’s sacrifice fly added 2 points to make it 3-0.
In the bottom of the 8th inning, Lotte scored 2 points with Noh Jin-hyeok’s sacrifice fly and Kim Min-seok’s timely hit with no bases loaded, putting a wedge in the game. KT, who failed to attack Na Kyun-an, made up for 3 points with Hwang Jae-gyun’s 2 RBIs and 3 bases in the beginning of the 9th inning, but could not turn the game around.
In Gwangju, the Doosan Bears won the KIA Tigers 3-2 and won the winning series. Doosan starter Gwak Bin pitched 5 ⅓ innings, giving up 4 hits and 2 runs (own charge). Subsequently, Park Chi-guk, Choi Ji-gang, Jeong Cheol-won, and Hong Geon-hee kept the back door with a scoreless score.
Yang Seok-hwan, who recorded his third home run of the season, took the sole lead in the division.