NC completed an away sweep against LG. It has been 2191 days since NC swept LG in Jamsil on 2-4 June 2017. The team’s first sweep in six years was led by the heroics of original ace Lee Jae-hak.
On the final day of their three-game series against LG in the 2023 KBO League at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul, South Korea, NC won 3-1 on Thursday thanks to a complete-game shutout by starting pitcher Lee Jae-hak. With the win, NC swept a three-game weekend series against LG to remain in sole possession of fourth place.
Lee Jae-hak was the star of the show on this day. Although he was unable to hold on to the win, Lee pitched a perfect inning, not allowing a hit or a walk until the third inning, proving that he is the original ace.안전놀이터
In six innings, Lee allowed one run on two hits and two walks with three strikeouts. He kept the LG bats in check with a mix of fastballs, change-ups, and sliders that topped out at 146km/h. He was perfect until the third inning. After striking out two in the top of the first to end the inning, Lee struck out the LG batsmen in order in the bottom of the inning. In the third inning, he pitched a perfect inning with no hits and no walks, with great defensive support. With one run in the sixth inning, Lee secured his first win of the season with a Quality Start (QS), meaning he allowed no more than three runs in his first six innings of work.
The NC bats took some of the pressure off Lee’s shoulders by scoring early, especially NC ‘Captain’ Son Ah-seop, who stole two bases to open the scoring. In the top of the second inning, NC’s No. 4 hitter Jason Martin led off with a walk, and Kwon Hee-dong and Park Seok-min singled to load the bases. Park Se-hyuk then drew a walk and LG starter Lee Ji-gang was hit by a pitch to put runners on second and third. In the next at-bat, Kim Joo-won singled to bring in both Martin and Park Se-hyuk, giving NC a 2-0 lead.
In the top of the third, ‘Captain’ Son As-seob drew a walk and stole second, giving NC a chance to put runners on second and third. Seo Ho-cheol singled to put runners on first and third, and Park Gun-woo hit an infield single to put runners on first and third. LG took Yoo Young-chan out of the game and brought in Ham Deok-joo. In the next at-bat, Martin singled to drive in Son to extend NC’s lead to 3-0, but Kwon Hee-dong’s RBI single in the next at-bat ended the threat. NC had a chance to add another run in the top of the seventh inning with the bases loaded, but Martin’s double left the bases empty.
NC then gave up a run to LG in the bottom of the seventh to make it 3-1, but the NC bullpen held on for the two-run win. Kim Young-kyu, who took the mound after Lee Jae-hak, pitched two scoreless innings for NC.
In the bottom of the ninth, the mound was handed over to Kim Si-hoon. He struck out LG’s No. 4 hitter Austin, but gave up singles to Hong Chang-ki and Moon Bo-kyung, putting runners on first and second base. However, Kim remained calm and struck out Kim Hyun-soo and Oh Ji-hwan in the next at-bat to seal the 3-1 victory.
Meanwhile, LG’s bullpen of Lee Ji-gang (2 innings), Yoo Young-chan (0.1 innings), Ham Deok-joo (1.1 innings), Park Myung-geun (1.1 innings), Jung Woo-young (1 inning), Jin Hae-soo (1 inning), Baek Seung-hyun (1 inning), and Ko Woo-seok (1 inning) were unable to get any support from the bats. With the sweep by NC, LG has lost three straight games.