The Giants have a long way to go to reach 10 wins for the third straight year.
Lotte Giants’ Park Se-woong started the 14th game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League against the Kiwoom Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Tuesday.
Prior to his start, Park was 5-7 with a 3.58 ERA in 20 games this season. He picked up a win against the Incheon SSG Landers on June 15,먹튀검증 his first since June 23 against the LG Twins.
Lotte’s Park Se-woong. Photo by Chun Jeong-hwan
Lotte’s Park Se-woong. Photo by Chun Jeong-hwan
However, he hasn’t fared well against Kiwoom this season. After two starts, he is 2-2 with an 8.59 ERA. His last start against Kiwoom was on August 12 last year. He has lost four straight games against Kiwoom since August 31. On this day, he could shake off his bad luck against Kiwoom.
In the first inning, Kim struck out Kim Jun-wan and Kim Hye-sung and gave up a single to Dawson, but he got Song Sung-moon to ground out to second base. In the second inning, a strikeout and a solid grounder by shortstop Bae Young-bin kept the inning scoreless.
In the third inning, things went awry. He gave up a walk to leadoff hitter Lim Byung-wook. Kim Xiang followed with a single to put runners on first and third. The coaching staff came to the mound to encourage Park. Park settled down again and bunted the Kiwoom batting order of Kim Hye-sung, Dawson, and Song Sung-moon.
The defense didn’t help in the fourth inning. Leadoff hitter Kim Hwijip induced a light grounder to second base, but second baseman Park Seung-wook made a throwing error. Lee Ju-hyung and Jeon Byung-woo grounded out to short, and Jeon Byung-woo struck out. If not for the error, the inning would have ended. Lim Byung-wook stepped up to the plate and, as fate would have it, hit a two-run home run.
Lotte’s Park Se-woong. Photo by Chun Jeong-hwan
The fifth inning was clean. Kim Jun-wan struck out looking, Kim Hye-sung popped out to shortstop, and Dawson struck out swinging. In the sixth inning, he struck out Song Sung-moon to left field and Kim Hui-jip and Lee Joo-hyung on swinging strikes.
That was it for Park. Park pitched six innings, allowing four hits (one home run), one walk, nine strikeouts and three runs (one earned). He threw 107 pitches. He threw a mix of fastballs, sliders, curves, and forkballs, and his fastball touched 94 mph.
However, it was not Park’s sixth win of the season. He came down with the win, but gave up the tying run in the seventh inning. An error by Park put runners on first and second with a single by Lim Byung-wook and a sacrifice bunt by Kim Dong-heon. Kim Jun-wan singled home Kim Tae-jin.
Despite a strong pitching performance from Park Se-woong, Lotte’s defense and bullpen struggles led to a shock sweep of Kiwoom, 6-7. Lotte was unable to rebound from seventh place.
Park Se-woong has often been unable to accumulate wins despite pitching well. After collecting 10 wins in each of the 2021 and 2022 seasons, Park needs five more to reach the 10-win mark for the third straight year. At the end of the season, he was named to the roster for the Hangzhou Asian Games. Can Park shake off all the bad luck and reach 10 wins for the third consecutive year?