Fall Baseball Is Falling Away

Lotte has lost five games in a row even in the battle of the starting lineup, four times in QS alone in five games...Fall Baseball Is Falling Away

Lotte lost 1-3 in an away game against KT Wiz at Suwon KT Wiz Park on the 25th. Lotte, which lost for two consecutive days, fell into a five-game losing streak last week with three consecutive sweep losses against the Kiwoom Heroes.

Lotte, which lost 1-3 in the game against the LG Twins on the 24th, also had starter Aaron Wilkerson pitching well with six hits, eight strikeouts and two runs (one earned run) in seven innings, but the batters remained silent with six hits and one run. Wilkerson recorded his first loss in six games since entering the KBO League.

In the process of losing five consecutive games, Lotte's starters did their part enough. Barnes, who started the game against Kiwoom on the 18th and scored two runs (one earned run) in six innings against LG on the 24th, also had a quality start in both games with three runs in six innings. Park Se-woong, who started against Kiwoom on the 20th, also pitched well with three runs (one earned run) in six innings. Na Kyun-an (three runs in five innings), who played against Kiwoom on the 19th, was the only pitcher who failed to fill six innings.

In five games, Lotte's starters fought hard with a 2.70 ERA, including four quality starts (two Barnes, one Wilkerson and one Park Se-woong), but failed to win a single game. Kiwoom's three consecutive games have shaken the bullpen and defense, and the batters are not responding in two games this week.

Lotte won four consecutive games with the SSG Landers on the 17th and was on the verge of recovering its winning rate of 50% (50 wins and 51 losses). Lotte, which pushed the Doosan Bears, which lost five consecutive games at the time, to seventh place and moved up to sixth place, seemed to narrow the gap with the fifth-ranked KIA Tigers to 0.5 games, making the "eight-chiol" a reality.

However, he slipped after giving up all three games, starting with a shocking reversal in the first game against Kiwoom, the lowest in the league. Lotte, which faced six consecutive away games with No. 1 LG and No. 2 KT this week, sought to take enough rest and reverse the atmosphere as the games were canceled due to rain on the 22nd and 23rd, but only its losing streak was longer.

The long-standing saying that baseball is "playing with pitchers" is not working for Lotte now. The most important starting pitcher is fighting hard, but offbeat baseball continues, with defense and bullpen shaking and not supported by the batters. Meanwhile, fifth-place Doosan (54 wins, 51 losses, 1 draw, 0.514) and sixth-place KIA (50 wins, 50 losses, 2 draws, 0.500), who were competing for the semifinals, ran away. Lotte (50 wins, 56 losses, 0.472), whose winning margin fell to -6, widened the gap between fifth place and Doosan by 4.5 games and third place KIA by three games.

Now Lotte has only 38 games left to make up for its slump. Ahead of this season, Lotte boldly opened its wallet and announced Winnow by recruiting catcher Yoo Kang-nam (four years, 8 billion won), shortstop Roh Jin-hyuk (four years, 5 billion won) and pitcher Han Hyun-hee (four years, up to 4 billion won). However, at the beginning of the season, it failed to continue its upward trend, which once rose to first place, and fell with a frightening momentum. Attention is focusing on whether Lotte will make a dramatic rebound at the end of the season or whether it will suffer the bitter taste of its fall baseball failure for six consecutive years. 안전놀이터