“Aggressive baserunning that goes one base further is our identity.”
Playing outside the box is always a risk. It can be lauded as a fresh, off-the-wall play, but if it fails, it’s hard to avoid criticism for being reckless. This is especially true if you’re not a player who is usually quick on his feet and agile.
The Lotte Giants will play the second game of their weekend series against the KIA Tigers at Sajik Stadium in Busan on April 12.
The previous day, Lotte’s Noh Jin-hyuk attempted a home run with two outs.
One out later, Jeong Hoon, who walked, stole a base. It was his first stolen base of the year. Kim Min-seok then hit a ball that deflected off the glove of KIA third baseman Kim Do-young for an RBI single.
The next batter, Noh Jin-hyuk, followed with a bunt to the third base side that caught the opposing shift off guard, and when Son Sung-bin singled and the Kia defense made a mistake, Lotte scored one more run to make it 5-1.
Yoon Dong-hee singled and Ahn Chi-hong walked to load the bases in the bottom of the sixth. Outside hitter Niko Goodrum was standing at the plate. Kim Tae-gun struck out second baseman Son Sung-bin, who had a big lead.
Meanwhile, Noh Jin-hyuk drove in a run. However, Kia’s Park Chan-ho was quick on his feet and threw him out at home to end the inning.
Lotte manager Larry Sutton said, “Noh’s lead wasn’t bad (big). He saw the catcher throw to second base and ran home. It was a play aimed at the gap where the ball thrown to second base had to come back home.”
“They played good defense. It was two outs, and Goodrum hadn’t been batting well lately. It was worth taking the risk and going for the extra run.” It didn’t work out, but Sutton was quick to give credit for the ‘try’.
“It was a smart play by a veteran to take advantage of the situation,” he said of the bunt by Noh, who had been in a batting slump.
“He took advantage of a loophole in the opponent’s defense to get a valuable run. Later (in the eighth inning), the ball came out on an attempted safety squeeze, and he followed it up with a sacrifice fly. My hitting is getting better and better.” 메이저놀이터
Seventh-place Lotte moved to within a game and a half of sixth-place KIA with the win the previous day. They have a -4 win-loss margin and are four games behind the fifth-place Doosan Bears.