The professional baseball team Lotte Giants has drastically changed its starting lineup. Only the cleanup hitter remains the same.
Lotte will face LG Twins in the second match of the season on the 23rd at Seoul's Jamsil Stadium. Lotte suffered a 2-12 defeat against LG in the opening game the previous day. Ace Barnes was hit hard, allowing 7 runs on 8 hits over 3 innings. The defense crumbled with 3 errors, wild pitches, and passed balls.
In the opening game, left-handed batters Hwang Seong-bin, Ko Seung-min, and Na Seung-yeop, who batted in the 1-3 spots, remained hitless. However, it was encouraging that Son Ho-young, who had struggled during the exhibition games, managed 2 hits and 2 RBIs. Yoon Dong-hee and Jeon Joon-woo showed decent batting form.
Lotte has placed right-handed batters in the front against LG's left-handed starter Son Joo-young on the 23rd. Yoon Dong-hee (center fielder), Son Ho-young (third baseman), Jeon Joon-woo (left fielder), RAY (right fielder), Na Seung-yeop (first baseman), Jeong Hoon (designated hitter), Yoo Kang-nam (catcher), Ko Seung-min (second baseman), and Jeon Min-jae (shortstop) will start in the lineup.
Hwang Seong-bin, who batted lead-off the previous day, has been removed, and the number of left-handed batters has been reduced to two. Right-handed batters Jeong Hoon and Jeon Min-jae have been included in the starting lineup. It remains to be seen whether Lotte, which has built a right-handed heavy lineup, can avenge its previous opening day loss.
Son Joo-young has a strong track record against Lotte, with a career record of 2 wins and no losses across 3 games and an earned run average of 1.80. Last year, he won in his only start against them, pitching 6 scoreless innings. In the exhibition games, Son Joo-young made 2 starts, throwing 8 innings with 4 hits allowed, 3 walks, and 1 earned run while posting an ERA of 1.13.
Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung commented on the batting order changes before the game, saying, "Park Seung-wook and Hwang Seong-bin are out. In response to a question about whether they were left out because of the left-handed starter, he mentioned that 'Seong-bin couldn't even get near the ball yesterday, and Seung-min made an error, so I moved him back to make it easier for him.'
He added, "Ho-young has not been doing well but managed to hit decently, which is a relief. I expect the other players to perform well too. It seems like they were a bit tense yesterday."
The starting pitcher for Lotte is Park Se-woong. Park has a career record against LG of 7 wins and 9 losses with an earned run average of 4.42 across 27 games. Against LG last year, he had a record of 1 win and 1 loss in 4 games with an ERA of 5.25. In 2023, he has a record of 2 wins and 1 loss in 4 games with an ERA of 4.01.
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