The KIA Tigers played a practice game faithfully in preparation for the Korean Series. They came from behind to beat the Lotte Giants again.
KIA beat Lotte 5-4 at a practice game held at KIA Champions Field in Gwangju on Sunday. After winning 16-6 by 22 hits and 16 points at the match against Sangmu on Sunday, KIA finished its second practice game well. After holding its own practice game on Saturday, the team will start the Korean Series on Sunday.
KIA started with Park Chan-ho (striker), Socrates Brito (left fielder), Kim Do-young (third baseman), Na Sung-bum (right fielder), Choi Hyung-woo (designated hitter), Kim Sun-bin (second baseman), Lee Woo-sung (first baseman), Kim Tae-gun (possessed) and Choi Won-jun (middle fielder). Excluding Socrates and Lee Woo-sung, key players continued to play until the end of the game.
James Nail allowed three scoreless innings and Yang allowed two runs in three innings. Jang Hyun-sik pitched in the seventh inning, Jeon Sang-hyun in the eighth inning, and Jeong Hae-young in the ninth inning. Regardless of the score of the game, both the fielder and the pitcher played like the Korean Series. The game was moved to 13 o’clock due to the rain forecast, but the rainstorm became quite thick from the middle of the game. Still, the game proceeded normally.
Lotte(롤토토)also had the first to fourth batting order as its main players, ranging from Hwang Sung-bin, Yoon Dong-hee, Son Ho-young and Na Seung-yeop. Manager Kim Tae-hyung made the decision that Kia should not have too much power gap with each other. The team naturally made the switch in the middle of the game. Starting pitcher Lee Min-seok performed well by spraying up to 153 kilometers per hour.
In the top of the fourth inning, Lotte’s leadoff hitter Son Ho-young hit a left-handed hit. However, the team failed to take advantage of the chance with two outs and runners on the first and third bases. In contrast, Kia had a chance with Kim Do-young’s left-handed hit and Choi Hyung-woo’s right-handed hit in the bottom of the fourth inning, before scoring a point first through Na Sung-bum’s timely hit.
In the top of the fifth inning, Lotte had consecutive hits and steals by Lee Ho-joon and Hwang Sung-bin, which allowed the team to secure the second and third bases with one out. Yoon Dong-hee hit a come-from-behind two-run homer to take the lead. Then, Kim Do-young hit a solo shot to Jin Seung-hyeon to tie the game to the left in the bottom of the sixth inning. The team’s batting speed was 178.9 kilometers. Following the match against Sangmu on Sunday, the team achieved an unofficial 40-40 level until Sunday.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Han Jun-su hit a three-run shot to the middle of the game, with two outs and runners on the first and second bases, to determine the outcome. Lotte chased after Shin Yoon-hoo by hitting a two-run double in the top of the eighth inning on the left-handed side. Afterwards, Kia skipped its attack in the bottom of the eighth inning. After the attack in the top of the eighth inning, Lotte immediately launched its attack in the top of the ninth inning to end the game. KIA ended the game with Jung Hae-young taking charge of the ninth inning.