“Every game is an all-out war.”
Contrary to the shouts of the command tower, Kiwoom Heroes failed to cross the threshold of the 5th round and fell into a 4-game losing streak recently. Kiwoom lost 2-9 against the Doosan Bears in Jamsil on the 9th, failing to set the stage for a rebound. The batting line only scored 2 points even with 10 hits, and the mound collapsed with starter Jeong Chan-heon giving up 6 runs (5 earned runs) in 3⅔ innings, and even Ha Young-min, who made a relief mound as the 3rd pitcher, was shaken with 3 runs in ⅓ innings, making it difficult to counterattack. could not catch.스포츠토토
As of the 10th, Kiwoom is sitting in 7th place with a season record of 38 wins, 43 losses and 2 draws. It is true that it is too early to get frustrated with the 5th place NC Dinos (37 wins, 38 losses, 1 draw) and the 2 game gap, but the 8th place kt Wiz (34 wins, 41 losses, 2 draws) and the 9th place Hanwha Eagles (33 wins, 40 losses, 4 draws) Even with this, there is only one game difference. If it slips further here, it would be an instant to fall to ninth place.
The flow was good until June. Kiwoom rose to 5th place in the season by climbing to 3rd place with a record of 14 wins, 8 losses and 2 draws in June. His starting ERA in June was 2.61, leading the league. The bullpen ERA was uneasy at 4.60, but Kim Jae-woong, Ha Young-min, Lee Myeong-jong, and Lim Chang-min definitely won the game. Lim Chang-min sang a revival by collecting 9 saves in June alone. In the other lineups, Lee Jung-hoo (0.374, 14 RBIs), Kim Hye-seong (0.324, 14 RBIs), Lee Won-seok (0.303, 8 RBIs), and Song Seong-moon (0.287, 14 RBIs) ignited the rising trend with a fierce sense of hitting.
However, in July, the momentum took a sharp turn. It is most painful that Lee Won-seok, who signed with the Samsung Lions in a trade last April and gave the club the first non-FA multi-year contract (2+1 years 1 billion won), ended the first half with an injury. On the 4th, Lee Won-seok had difficulty hitting in the aftermath of the Gocheok NC Dinos game, and was eventually excluded from the first team entry on the 9th. Since Lee Won-seok was Kiwoom’s matchmaker aiming to jump to the top, it is inevitable to miss the injury gap even for a moment.
Kiwoom coach Hong Won-ki calmly explained, “It is difficult for Lee Won-seok to bet normally due to the aftermath of the NC game. I canceled it from the entry because he was completely healed and preparing for the second half would be helpful.”
The bigger problem is the bullpen. The average ERA in July was 8.64, which is the overwhelming lowest. It is the most shocking thing for Kiwoom that Ha Young-min, who performed the same duties as Altoran in the middle, collapsed with 7 runs in 1⅓ innings in 3 games this month. Won Jong-hyun, who was recruited as a free agent for 2.5 billion won in 4 years, lost only 6 runs in 3⅓ innings in 4 games in July before leaving due to an elbow injury. It is a recurrence of a flexor injury that had been diagnosed for 4 weeks in April and left. While Won Jong-hyun, whom he hoped would be the center of the bullpen, has been weak for most of the season, young bullpen pitchers struggled in July and are unable to escape from a losing streak.
With the flow tightly twisted ahead of the All-Star break, the remaining three games in the first half became even more important. From the 11th to the 13th, Kiwoom will play the last 3 games against kt in Gocheok. Kiwoom plans to introduce Ahn Woo-jin, Ariel Hurado-Ian McKinney, and kt will select William Cuevas, Wes Benjamin, and Ko Young-pyo as starting pitchers. Both teams foreshadowed a bloody battle pouring out 1st, 2nd, and 3rd starts.
Both Kiwoom and kt have recently lost 4 games in a row, and the atmosphere has broken side by side. In this series, the team that takes care of at least the winning series can avoid falling to the bottom. Will Kiwoom be able to untie the tangled knot in the final all-out war with kt in the midst of injured breakaways and poor back doors?