Lotte wins over SSG with good pitching by Park Se-woong.
Lotte Park Se-woong (28) made his last appearance on the mound on the 22nd in the away game against SSG before participating in the Hangzhou Asian Games, allowing 2 runs in 6 innings and leading the team to a 5-2 victory. He hit two solo home runs (Choo Shin-soo in the 1st and Choi Jeong in the 4th), but he made a quality start (the starting pitcher pitched to no more than 3 earned runs over 6 innings). In his 9th year as a professional, he is the ‘eldest brother’ of the national team and has posted 3 wins in 4 games (average ERA of 3.13) this month. In the batting lineup, Dong-hee Yoon (20) performed well with 3 hits in 5 at-bats, 1 RBI, and 1 run. Outfielder Yoon Dong-hee wore the Taegeuk symbol in place of KIA left-handed pitcher Lee Ui-ri (21), who was excluded from the national team that day. SSG fell from 5th to 6th place after losing despite starting pitcher Gwang-Hyun Kim giving up 3 runs in 7 innings (loss, 7 wins, 8 losses).
SSG owner Jeong Yong-jin visited the KBO (Korea Baseball Organization) prior to the game and even met with KBO President Heo Heo-yeon to protest the umpire’s decision in the previous day’s home game against LG (1-2 loss), saying, “There should be no misjudgments.” On the 21st, when SSG was trailing 0-2 to LG in the bottom of the 8th inning with one out and bases loaded, Park Seong-han hit a strong ball towards the line next to the first baseman. The batted ball grazed the first baseman’s glove and then hit the body of the first base umpire who was standing in the foul area. At this time, the first base umpire declared ‘Ball Dead (stop play)’ even though he had to decide whether it was a foul or a fair. At LG’s request, the result of video review was a fair result. After discussion, the umpires acknowledged SSG’s runner on third base to score, but ruled Han Yu-seom, the runner on first base, out. He gave a somewhat unreasonable reason, saying, “Even if the first base umpire had called a pair from the beginning, Han Yu-seom would not have been able to get to second base and would have been out.” SSG resumed the attack with 2 outs and 1st and 3rd bases, but was unable to score an additional point and ultimately lost. The KBO suspended the first base umpire for the remainder of the game for causing confusion in the game.
NC, ranked 3rd, defeated leader LG, who was on a 6-game winning streak, 5-4 in an away game in Jamsil. Left-handed pitcher Koo Chang-mo (26), who was notified of being dropped from the national team on the 21st, took the mound in relief after two outs in the bottom of the third inning when the team was trailing 3-4, and allowed no runs (one hit, one walk) until the fifth inning. In Gwangju, the home team KIA beat second place KT 2-1 and broke their seven-game losing streak. The ranking rose from 6th to 5th. In Daegu, 온라인바카라 4th place Doosan beat 9th place Samsung 3 to 1.