After suffering a ‘sweep’ against the Kiwoom Heroes last weekend, the Lotte Giants will look to end their losing streak.
Lotte will host the LG Twins of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League on April 24 at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul for the 12th game of the season.
Lotte looked to be on the verge of a rebound in August with a three-game sweep of SSG Landers in the middle of last week. However, the excitement was short-lived as they dropped all three games against the Kiwoom Heroes over the weekend. While the team was unable to play due to rain on the 22nd and 23rd, Lotte took the time to regroup by holding a team meeting led by head coach Larry Sutton.
Before the game on the 24th, Sutton said, “I think having three days off, including Monday, helped the team tremendously. “When you don’t play for four or five days, you can have issues with timing and things like that, but two or three days at most is a really positive thing for guys to recover. Especially for the pitchers,” he said.
Lotte, looking to snap a three-game losing streak, went with a lineup of Ahn Kwon-soo (left fielder), Kim Min-seok (center fielder), Lee Jeong-hoon (designated hitter), Ahn Chi-hong (second baseman), Yoon Dong-hee (right fielder), Ko Seung-min (first baseman), Jeong Jung-geun (catcher), Noh Jin-hyuk (shortstop), and Nico Goodrum (third baseman), with Charlie Barnes as the starting pitcher.
The most notable aspect of the lineup was Goodrum’s appearance in the ninth spot. “We don’t have the typical 3-5, big-hitting hitters,” said the manager. “We don’t have the typical 3-5, big-hitting guys, so we have to be flexible with our lineup depending on the pitcher we’re facing,” he said. “Behind the guys who can get on base, we have guys who can drive in runs, which is why we put Goodrum in the ninth spot.
Lee Jung-hoon, who has been hitting well of late, batted third and Jung-geun Shin batted seventh. “They’ve both been performing beyond expectations,” Sutton said. It’s not just one or two games, it’s more and more periods of good play. When the water comes in, you have to paddle, and that’s true in baseball and in life,” Sutton said. “They’re doing a good job of not missing pitches in the strike zone, and they’re doing a good job of executing their plans.”안전놀이터
Lee is still shuffling around in the batting order, but he is increasingly batting in the center of the order. “He’s a medium-to-long range hitter. He can hit more than two doubles. He can hit more than two doubles. He has a good ability to control the strike zone,” he said, adding, “He’s not going to hit two or three home runs, but he’s going to get a lot of RBIs, so he’s a good fit in the middle of the order, and he’s a good fit in the three through five spots.”