The Lotte Giants of professional baseball extended their winning streak. The manager said "it didn't look very good," expressing concern about the slump of key batters, but that day they were able to shake off that worry.
Lotte defeated the SSG Landers 7-5 on June 2 at Incheon SSG Landers Field in the 2026 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League. It was their third consecutive win. With this victory they recorded 11 wins, 1 tie and 17 losses.
Eighth-place Hanwha Eagles and ninth-place Kiwoom Heroes also won, so Lotte failed to move out of last place, but there were positive aspects. The concerns that manager Kim Tae-hyoung had were somewhat alleviated.
Before the game, manager Kim said of Yoon Dong-hee, "He doesn't look very good. He can get his timing back, but that makes it harder to hit the ball," expressing concern.
On the 30th of last month, Yoon Dong-hee went 0 for 4 against Kiwoom, and on the first day of the SSG road trip on the 1st he was 0 for 3. Failing to produce hits in two consecutive games, his season batting average fell to .184.
The silence of Yoon Dong-hee, who was supposed to inject vitality into Lotte's batting lineup, was inevitably a worry for manager Kim. That Yoon Dong-hee belted three hits on the 2nd.
Lotte's starting lineup that day was Jang Du-seong (center field), Yoon Dong-hee (right field), Víctor Reyes (left field), Yoo Kang-nam (designated hitter), Kim Min-sung (first base), Park Seung-wook (third base), Jeon Min-jae (shortstop), Son Seong-bin (catcher) and Han Tae-yang (second base).
In his first at-bat in the first inning, Yoon Dong-hee was caught on a fly ball to left field. Facing SSG starter Veniziano's first pitch, a 150 km/h fastball, he swung but it became an outfield fly. In his second at-bat in the fourth inning, he led off and grounded out to the pitcher.
Then in the top of the sixth with no outs and a runner on first, Jang Du-seong was hit in the head by a pitch from Veniziano and reached base. Veniziano was ejected for a head shot, and veteran pitcher Noh Kyung-eun was rushed in. Yoon Dong-hee hit an infield single to left off Noh Kyung-eun to create a bases-loaded opportunity.
Afterwards, Reyes delivered a two-run single to right. Yoo Kang-nam's infield hit again loaded the bases, and with a sacrifice fly by Noh Jin-hyuk and an RBI single by Jeon Min-jae, Lotte scored four runs in the sixth and completed the comeback. Yoon Dong-hee also played a part in Lotte's comeback.
Lotte added two more runs in the seventh. The first batter, Shin Yun-hoo, hit a single to left, and Yoon Dong-hee hit a double to left field to create a no-outs, second-and-third opportunity. It was his first multi-hit game in three games since the Kiwoom game on May 29 of last month.
After Reyes was issued an automatic intentional walk, Yoo Kang-nam hit a fly ball to center, Noh Jin-hyuk was caught on a fly to third, but Park Seung-wook drew a walk to push in a run, and SSG middle reliever Park Si-hoo's wild pitch allowed another run.
Lotte added another valuable run in the eighth, when with one out and a runner on second Yoon Dong-hee hit a single to center for a three-hit game and Reyes followed with an RBI to center.
Manager Kim, in addition to Yoon Dong-hee, before the game said, "Strong teams need their middle-order hitters to produce. The lower order is doing well, but when the middle order is good there is less fluctuation, while the lower order is more inconsistent. The middle order has to hit for the team to become strong. Reyes doesn't look like he's hitting very well either," he said, expressing concern.
But Yoon Dong-hee had a three-hit game and Reyes reached base four times with two hits in four at-bats, three RBIs, one run and one walk, leading the team's winning streak. Lotte fans who traveled to Incheon with the team that day went wild.
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