Lotte Giants suffered consecutive defeats in the season opener. They allowed more than 10 points in both games.

Lotte lost significantly 2-10 against LG in the second match of the 2025 KBO League held at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on the 23rd. They faced a crushing defeat the previous day with a score of 2-12, allowing more than 10 points for two consecutive days.

Lotte starting pitcher Park Se-woong lost in the starting matchup. During 5 innings, Park allowed 8 hits, 3 home runs, and 6 runs.

In the first inning with two outs and a runner on second base, the curve thrown to Moon Bo-kyung on a 3-ball-1-strike count fell into the middle instead of being a bait pitch, allowing a two-run home run. To induce a swing and miss, the pitch should have been low, but it was a mistake pitch that went into the middle.

In the second inning, Park Se-woong threw a first-pitch fastball (150.6 km/h) to Park Dong-won, allowing a solo home run that went over the left-center field wall. If the strike zone is divided into 9 parts, it was directly in the middle. There was no choice but to allow a massive home run with a distance of 131.1 meters.

The solo home run hit by Austin after two outs in the fifth inning was also a slider that came into the middle, and the solo home run allowed to Song Chan-ui in the sixth inning was a slider that was high. Park Se-woong was replaced after allowing 4 runs with 3 home runs.

Lotte's expected 1-2 starting pitchers, Barnes and Park Se-woong, underperformed. Barnes was battered in the opening game, allowing 8 hits, 1 home run, 2 walks, and 7 runs in 3 innings before being taken out early. His previous record for most runs allowed in a single game was 8, marking the worst pitching.

Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung noted before the game on the 23rd regarding Barnes's pitching from the previous day, "I don't know whether to say LG hit well or Barnes didn't pitch well. First of all, there were a few hits that were lucky. Then, LG batters hit the pitches that were a bit off!"

In the opening two games, Lotte's batting lineup recorded 7 hits and 2 runs, followed by 6 hits and 2 runs. In both games, failing to capitalize on bases loaded situations was disappointing.

On this day, trailing 0-5 in the top of the eighth inning, Lotte created a bases loaded opportunity with leadoff hitter Na Seung-yeop's single to left field, Jeong Hoon's walk, and Jeong Bo-geun's hit to right-center.

However, Go Seung-min was struck out by the changed pitcher Kim Jin-seong. Jeon Min-jae had a one-RBI single to left field to claw back one run. It was disappointing that the relied-upon Yun Dong-hee was out on a second pitch pop-up to the second baseman. Following that, Son Ho-young hit a well-struck ball towards third base, but it was caught by Moon Bo-kyung's diving catch. If it had dropped, Lotte would have trailed 5-3 and continued the momentum, but a great defensive play extinguished that chance.

In the opening game, Lotte also had a bases loaded opportunity in the fourth inning while trailing 0-7, with Son Ho-young hitting a two-RBI single to left field. Then, Yoo Kang-nam's short hit to right field created another bases loaded situation. However, Park Seung-wook struck out on 3 pitches from LG starter Chirinus's forkball, and Hwang Seong-bin was out weakly on a first-pitch two-seamer (149 km/h), caught in foul territory.

Manager Kim Tae-hyung said he intended to bring in Park Jin after starter Barnes, but changed his strategy to a losing adjustment as they could not narrow the gap.

Before the game on the 23rd, manager Kim Tae-hyung expressed hope, saying, "It seems that yesterday (the batters) were a bit nervous. They will get better," but on that day, they were held to just 1 hit against Lotte killer Son Joo-young until the seventh inning.

Meanwhile, Lotte will face the SSG Landers in a three-game series in Incheon starting on the 25th. SSG has secured two opening wins against Doosan's foreign starting pitchers. Lotte is set to have a starting rotation of Davidson, Kim Jin-wook, and Na Gyun-an.

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