Ultimately, it’s a season start that is no different from a year ago. In the shocking run of being hitless, they plummeted to last place.

Lotte lost 0-2 to the KT Wiz in a regular season game held at Busan's Sajik Stadium on the 28th. With this, Lotte has recorded 1 win and 5 losses for the season, suffering a three-game losing streak.

At the same time, Doosan and Hanwha, who had 1 win and 4 losses before this game, achieved victories. Doosan won against Kia 2-0, and Hanwha triumphed over KIA with a comeback win of 7-2, marking their first game in the new stadium with a victory. They now stand at 2 wins and 4 losses. Lotte has fallen to last place alone.

In the previous 5 games, they scored 2 runs, 2 runs, 3 runs, 1 run, and 2 runs, averaging only 2 runs per game. Leading up to this game, all batting metrics were at the bottom. The team's batting average was .201, and the team OPS was .523, ranking them 9th. They were the only team among the 10 that had not hit a single home run. Instead, they led the league with 10 double plays.

In particular, Lotte lowered the height of the outfield fence from 6m to 4.8m this year. They removed the so-called 'seongdamjang.' Lotte explained that they lowered the outfield fence to improve the sight obstruction for outfield spectators due to the high fence and to enhance the offensive capability of players like Son Ho-young, Yoon Dong-hee, Ko Seung-min, and Na Seung-yeop, who are known for their good launch angles.

Last year saw the emergence of numerous middle-distance hitters, including Yoon Dong-hee, Ko Seung-min, Na Seung-yeop, and Son Ho-young, allowing the team to become known for batting. And this year, to continue that momentum, they lowered the fence, preparing to become a team that hits more home runs and extra-base hits.

However, the hitless run continues, similar to the early part of last season. On this day, they struggled against KT's starting pitcher, Heusis, managing only 4 hits in total. Of those, 2 hits were recorded by Kim Min-seong, who was called up to the first team for this game. Although Kim Min-seong, who recorded a batting average of .455 in the second team, was expected to energize the team, he fulfilled his role but failed to boost the overall energy of the team.

The 1-6 batting order, which needs to open up the scoring and solve issues, managed only 1 hit in 23 at-bats. Although Heusis had good command, it has been a streak of games where the batting lineup has struggled. There is no expectation.

Luck did not accompany them. In the 9th inning, they managed to produce some decent hits. All were home run-worthy hits. The leadoff hitter Jeon Jun-woo hit a sizable ball towards left-center field in the 9th inning. It traced a high arc towards the fence, but the ball landed on the warning track, resulting in a fly ball to the left fielder. Following him, Reyes also produced a hit that had distance towards right-center. However, this hit was also caught by the center fielder right in front of the fence.

Even the hits that could serve as a breakthrough were all blocked. Just one good hit would have made all the difference, but that, too, failed. The lowered fence proved to be of no help. Ultimately, the dishonor of being the only team among the 10 without a home run continued up to the 6th game of the season.

Manager Kim Tae-hyung noted, "The hits are not lifting and there are too many double plays. The players need to find a breakthrough themselves. They need to at least make short contact. If the manager tells them, they lose their own approach," revealing his concerns about the struggling batting lineup.

They could not avoid last place. When will Lotte find a breakthrough and get the answers for their batting lineup?

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