The juniors filled the void left by the veterans. The Samsung Lions snapped a five-game losing streak thanks to their bullpen, which pitched 4⅓ scoreless innings.
Samsung improved to 26-36 (.419) on the season with a 7-5 victory over the KT Wiz in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on April 18.
Prior to the game, Samsung designated veteran pitcher Oh Seung-hwan for assignment and called up right-hander Kim Si-hyun, who retired this year. Seung-hwan Oh, who had expressed strong feelings of anger during the eighth inning of the 16th game, was moved to the second team to give him time to regroup.메이저놀이터
While the mound situation was difficult, the pressure on the juniors was even greater as the team suffered a one-run loss for the second straight day.
In fact, by the middle of the game, Samsung was far from assured of victory. Down 1-2 in the top of the fifth inning, Kim Hyun-jun tied the game with a sacrifice fly, Jose Pirela followed with an RBI single, and Kim Jae-sung followed with a two-run double to make it 5-2.
However, Choi Chae-heung immediately ran into trouble, giving up three runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 5-5. Samsung was forced to turn to its bullpen in the fifth, with Moon Yong-ik getting the start.
Moon came in with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth and walked the first batter, Jang Jun-won, but induced a strikeout from Anthony Alford to prevent any further damage. In the bottom of the sixth, he retired Jung Jun-young, Moon Sang-chul, and Jang Sung-woo in order.
In the top of the sixth, Kim Ji-chan led off with a single and Samsung had nine outs. Yang Chang-seop was called up after Moon Yong-ik.
Yang walked leadoff hitter Hwang Jae-gyun in the bottom of the seventh and gave up back-to-back singles to Lee Ho-yeon and Choi Jae-dae, but got out of the jam with grounders to Kim Min-hyuk and Park Byung-ho.
In the bottom of the eighth, fourth pitcher Kim Dae-woo struck out leadoff hitter Alford, and fifth pitcher Lee Seung-hyun, a right-hander, got two outs without allowing a run. KT’s string of hits could have put pressure on the pitchers, but they remained calm.
It was left-hander Lee Seung-hyun who closed out the game. Lee came into the game in the bottom of the ninth inning with his team leading 7-5 and easily recorded the first two outs on a grounder by Hwang Jae-gyun and a fly ball by Lee Ho-yeon, and then struck out Kang Hyun-woo on a wild pitch to preserve the lead.
The coaching staff, including Park Jin-man, had been worried about the bullpen’s recent struggles, but for once, the players and coaching staff could breathe a sigh of relief as the bullpen kept KT at bay with a scoreless relay.
Samsung will take a day off before returning to action on the 20th for a three-game series against the Kiwoom Heroes at Daegu Samsung Lions Park.