Kiwoom Heroes defeated the Lotte Giants after an 86-minute rain delay in extra innings.
Kiwoom won the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League game against Lotte at Sajik Stadium in Busan on Wednesday, 7-6, thanks to Song Sung-moon’s game-winning hit in the top of the 10th inning after the score was tied 6-6.
After snapping an eight-game losing streak the day before, Kiwoom won its second straight game to complete a three-game weekend sweep. Kiwoom remained in eighth place with 40 wins (2 ties, 47 losses) on the season.
Lotte, on the other hand, dropped its second straight game to fall to 39 wins and 41 losses on the season, trailing sixth-place KT Wiz by 0.5 games.
The game started at 5 p.m. and ended at 11:10 p.m. In the top of the sixth inning, Kiwoom’s offense was delayed by 1 hour and 26 minutes due to rain and ground maintenance, and the game went into extra innings, which took 6 hours and 10 minutes.
However, the official time of the game was 4 hours and 44 minutes, excluding the 1 hour and 26 minutes of rain delay.
Kiwoom scored three runs in the top of the third inning on a two-run homer by Ronnie Dawson after a sacrifice fly by Kim Hye-sung with runners on second and third. It was Dawson’s first home run in his second KBO game.
But in the bottom of the fourth, starter Choi Won-tae faltered. Choi gave up a walk to Ahn Chi-hong and a single to Lee Jung-hoon to put runners on first and third. He then gave up four consecutive singles to Han Dong-hee, Park Seung-wook, Yoo Kang-nam, and Kim Min-seok to make it a 3-4 game.
Kiwoom answered right back in the top of the fifth. Lee Yong-kyu singled, Kim Hye-sung walked to bring down Lotte starter Lee In-bok, and Dawson singled to load the bases.
In the process, Lotte manager Larry Sutton was ejected for protesting the umpire’s ball call. It was the sixth ejection of the season for the manager, and the first for an umpire’s call rather than an appeal of a video review.
Kiwoom tied the game at 4-4 with a sacrifice fly by Song Sung-moon in the top of the fifth.
Then, in the top of the sixth inning, rain poured down on Kiwoom’s offense and the game was suspended. The game was suspended at 7:26 p.m. and did not resume until 8:52 p.m.
Shortly after the game resumed, Kiwoom’s Lee Yong-kyu was ejected. After vehemently protesting the umpire’s strike call, Yong-kyu retreated to the center field foul pole and made one more appeal on his way to the dugout. It was his 15th ejection of the season.
Kiwoom got on the board in the top of the eighth with a two-out RBI single by Song Sung-moon. But in the bottom of the eighth, pinch-hitter Jeon Jun-woo hit a two-run homer to tie the game.
It was Kiwoom who had the last laugh in the extra innings. Two batters later, after Dawson doubled and Lee Won-seok was intentionally walked, Song Sung-moon hit an RBI double to score the game-winning run.
In the bottom of the 10th, closer Lim Chang-min faced runners on second and third, but struck out Park Seung-wook to end the long game. Lim earned his 15th save of the season (1-1).
Kiwoom’s Song Sung-moon went 3-for-5 with a home run and four RBIs, including the game-winning hit.
Kiwoom’s sixth pitcher, Kim Dong-hyuk, picked up his first win of the season (4-0), while Lotte closer Kim Won-joong dropped to 2-2 (5-17).
In Daegu, the KT Wiz defeated the Samsung Lions 8-7.
With the win, KT completed a three-game weekend series against Samsung with a 2-1 win-loss record. Their season record now stands at 39-2-2 (6th place), half a game behind fifth-place Lotte.
Samsung, on the other hand, remained in last place with 32 wins and 51 losses.
Tied 4-4 in the top of the seventh inning, KT broke the tie with a run-scoring single by Choi Jae-dae with runners on first and second.
In the next at-bat, Kim Min-hyuk hit a two-run double and Kim Sang-soo added an RBI single to extend the lead to 8-4.
KT brought in closer Kim Jae-yoon early in the eighth inning after Park Young-hyun gave up two runs on four consecutive hits. With runners on first and second, Kim gave up an RBI single to Jose Pirela to cut the deficit to 8-7.
Two batters later, Ryu Ji-hyuk singled to left, and left fielder Jung Jun-young threw out Ahn Joo-hyung at home to tie the game.
Kim Jae-yoon pitched a scoreless ninth inning to end the game.
KT was led by leadoff man Kim Min-hyuk, who went 3-for-6 with a home run and four RBIs. Hwang Jae-gyun also had a good game with five hits and three RBIs.
Lee Sang-dong, the fourth pitcher, struck out two and earned a lucky save (3 wins), while Kim Jae-yoon pitched two innings of relief to pick up his 15th save of the season (3-2).
Meanwhile, the games in Jamsil (SSG-LG), 카지노사이트 Daejeon (NC-Hanwha), and Gwangju (Doosan-KIA) were postponed due to rain.