‘5 innings, 67 pitches’ brassy choice by Samsung bench leads to midweek three-game sweep

Jamsil Stadium in Seoul, South Korea, hosted the 2023 KBO League matchup between Samsung and LG. After losing the 13th and 14th games by one run, Samsung needed to win the 15th game to avoid a sweep.

The pitching matchup seemed to favor LG. LG sent out Im Chan-kyu, who went 4-0 with a 1.13 ERA in four starts in May and finished second in the monthly MVP voting. Although he was blown out for seven runs in five innings in the NC on June 3, his first game of the month, Im rebounded with 5.1 innings of two runs (one earned) in his last start against Hanwha, although he did not record a win. Samsung is turning to fourth-year rookie Hwang Dong-jae. Hwang Dong-jae, who was sidelined from the first team with a sore back and took the loss in his first start of the season, a 5.2-inning, five-run loss to the NC on Aug. 8, was given the opportunity to start once again.

In the end, it was a complete game win for Hwang. The Samsung offense pounded Im Chan-kyu, who struggled with his pitches in the first inning, giving up three runs on five hits and four walks in five innings. He threw 97 pitches.

Hwang Dong-jae, on the other hand, gave up a solo shot to Kim Hyun-soo in the fourth inning, but held LG, the KBO’s best hitting team, to one run on four hits and one walk until the fifth inning. He also managed his pitch count efficiently, throwing just 67 pitches. His pace was good enough to last through the sixth and seventh innings.

However, the Samsung bench gave Hwang Dong-jae only five innings and brought up Hong Jung-woo in the sixth with a 3-1 lead. After facing LG’s bats for two innings, Hwang Dong-jae’s pitches were familiar to them. Hong Jung-woo was the pitcher who took Hwang Dong-jae out of the game, even though there were no injuries. He is a right-handed pitcher similar to Hwang Dong-jae, but his pitches were not as good as Hwang Dong-jae’s on this day. Moreover, with a two-run lead, it didn’t make sense to bring up Hong Jung-woo, who is not a must-win pitcher but a chaser or a loser.

As soon as he came up, Hong gave up a single to Kim Hyun-soo and then a two-run double to Austin to tie the game at 3-3. A shaky Hong gave up a hit to Oh Ji-hwan and had to leave the mound without recording an out.

Samsung’s next choice off the bench was Woo Kyu-min. While Woo has plenty of experience as a set-up man and closer, his record this season 토토사이트 has been less than stellar in crunch time and tiebreaking situations. He was 2-6 with an ERA of 5.30 before this game. After giving up a deflected infield hit to Park Dong-won, Woo gave up a double to Moon Sung-joo with runners on second and third after a sacrifice bunt by Kim Min-sung. The 3-1 lead quickly turned into a 3-5 deficit.

That’s when the Samsung bench called up right-hander Lee Seung-hyun from the bullpen, where he’s been a stalwart. If they were going to utilize Lee, who had only pitched 0.1 innings in his last 13 games, they should have done so in the top of the sixth inning. Of course, they could have used him in the seventh inning or later, but the Samsung bench’s plan to protect a two-run lead with Hong Jung-woo and Woo Kyu-min was reckless. It started with the decision to pull Hwang, who threw just 67 pitches in five innings.

Lee Seung-hyun, who came up to bat, got Park Hae-min to fly out to center field to give him a breather, then gave up a single to Hong Chang-ki to put runners on second and third. Moon then induced a grounder to second base, but Kim Ji-chan flipped a not-so-difficult pitch behind the plate to bring both runners home. Unable to get out of the inning, Lee faltered further, giving up a double to Kim Hyun-soo and a single to Austin. The score was 3-9, and the game was over.

With the loss, Samsung dropped all three games of its midweek series against LG to fall to 25-34 on the season. They have no points over ninth-place KT (24-2-33), who they narrowly beat in winning percentage (0.424-0.421). They are just one game ahead of last-place Hanwha (23-3-34). KT and Hanwha are riding high after winning their midweek three-game series (2-1) against top-ranked SSG and Lotte. The team has a different vibe than Samsung, which is in a downward spiral.

Samsung’s young infield is committing a parade of errors on a daily basis, and the bench is making incomprehensible pitching decisions by pulling good starters early and activating the bullpen, which ranks last in the 10-team league. At this rate, Samsung’s fall to the bottom of the standings is not far off.

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