‘What a stomach’ Reyes finishes off comeback with grand slam blast

Last year’s meeting in Ulsan produced a different result. The Lotte Giants used a late-game surge to pull out a come-from-behind victory. Victor Reyes blasted the game-winning grand slam.

Lotte won 6-2 in extra innings in the 10th home game of the season against the Doosan Bears of the 2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League at Munsu Baseball Stadium in Ulsan on Sunday.

Starting lineup

Doosan: Jeong Soo-bin (center fielder)-Heo Kyung-min (third baseman)-Henry Ramos (right fielder)-Yang Ji-jee (designated hitter)-Kim Jae-hwan (left fielder)-Yang Seok-hwan (first baseman)-Kang Seung-ho (second baseman)-Kim Ki-yeon (catcher)-Jeon Min-jae (shortstop), starting pitcher Choi Jun-ho.

Lotte: Hwang Sung-bin (center fielder)-Na Seung-yeop (first baseman)-Ko Seung-min (second baseman)-Victor Reyes (right fielder)-Jeon Jun-woo (left fielder)-Lee Jeong-hoon (designated hitter)-No Jin-hyeok (third baseman)-Park Seung-wook (shortstop)-Son Sung-bin (catcher), starter Aaron Wilkerson.

Just like the first game of the Ulsan series, the game started off very tight. Lotte’s Aaron Wilkerson, who started the game on defense, allowed a throwing error by first baseman Na Seung-yeop and a single to Yang Yang-ji to put runners on first and second, but he struck out No. 4 hitter Kim Jae-hwan in a crucial situation to end the scoreless start. He gave up a leadoff single to Yang Seok-hwan in the second inning, but was able to shut down the Doosan bats without further damage, and cruised through the third inning with three outs on two fly balls and a ground ball.

Choi Jun-ho, who was sent down to the second team last month after a string of struggles, was no match for Wilkerson. Choi gave up a leadoff walk and a stolen base to Hwang Sung-bin and a single to Na Seung-yup to put runners on first and third with no outs, but no runs scored. Choi got the next batter, Ko Seung-min, to foul out to third base, then induced a ground ball to Victor Reyes to get the second out of the inning, and then got Jeon Jun-woo to fly out to center field to end the inning.

Choi’s pitching was perfect in the big inning. In the second inning, Choi struck out the bottom of the order of Lee Jung-hoon, Noh Jin-hyeok, and Park Seung-wook, and in the third inning, he struck out Son Sung-bin with a 145-kilometer fastball, Hwang Sung-bin with a 131-kilometer fork, and Na Seung-yeop with a 144-kilometer fastball in a “KKK” inning. The Doosan bats responded to the “rookie’s” pitching. For Lotte, Wilkerson’s lack of composure at a crucial time when they could have gotten out of the inning unscathed cost them.

Doosan put runners on first and second with no outs in the top of the fourth inning when Yang Seok-hwan led off with a single to left field, and Kang Seung-ho followed with an infield single to the left side of the infield. Kim Ki-yeon then hit a ball that rolled toward the 토토사이트 추천 pitcher. The worst possible situation for Doosan, as it would lead to a walk-off hit. But then Wilkerson fumbled the ball. Wilkerson had made the same mistake in his previous at-bat, fumbling a routine ground ball.

Doosan capitalized on the opportunity. With runners on second and third after Kim Ki-yeon singled, Jeon Min-jae hit a ball that dropped just over the second baseman’s height, allowing both runners to sprint home to take the lead. No further runs were scored in the ensuing at-bats, but Choi Joon-ho retired Lee Jung-hoon on a fly ball to left field and Noh Jin-hyeok and Park Seung-wook on consecutive groundouts in the fifth inning to set up the winning run, and then took the mound in the sixth inning to cook the Lotte lineup and record a quality start (six innings of three earned runs or less) to secure the win.

However, the game was not easy to predict until the end. Lotte rallied. After overcoming a two-out rally in the top of the seventh inning, with Doosan starter Choi Jun-ho on the mound, leadoff hitter Reyes blasted a double to right-center off Lee Byung-heon. Jeon Jun-woo followed with a walk to load the bases. Doosan then took Lee Byung-heon out of the game and brought in Hong Gun-hee. Lotte responded by bringing in Jung Hoon to pinch-hit, but a grounder to the second baseman allowed Reyes to score from third base, making it 2-1 in favor of Doosan.

Doosan couldn’t escape when they needed to, and the game was tied at one. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Doosan, who had used all of their bullpen before the eighth inning, brought in Lee Kyo-hoon in defense, who quickly recorded two outs. However, the game started to get weird when Hwang Sung-bin singled, and Doosan decided to turn to Kim Taek-yeon for the fourth out. Lotte then pulled out Yoon Dong-hee, who had been removed from the starting lineup. After Hwang Sung-bin made it easy for Doosan catcher Kim Ki-yeon to foil a run-scoring opportunity, Yoon Dong-hee exploded for a tiebreaking single.

Doosan was unable to capitalize on the scoring opportunity in the top of the ninth inning, and Lotte also failed to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, sending the matchup into extra innings. In the top of the 10th inning, Doosan went silent once again with the bases loaded, and Lotte ended the game. In the bottom of the 10th inning, Park Seung-wook, Lee Ho-joon, and Go Seung-min drew walks to load the bases against Doosan’s new pitcher Kim Yoo-sung. Reyes then blasted a game-tying grand slam off Doosan reliever Kim Myung-shin to end the game.

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