"It's not that I took him out because he couldn't hit."
NC Dinos manager Lee Ho-jun explained the substitution situation during the previous day's (the 12th) game operation ahead of the professional baseball regular-season game against the Lotte Giants to be held on the 13th at Sajik Stadium in Busan.
NC defeated Lotte 8-1 the day before. Starter Riley pitched well with five innings and one earned run, and they took the lead with a big inning in the top of the fourth.
In the top of the fourth, tied 1-1, walks by Seo Ho-cheol, Park Si-won and Kim Joo-won created a bases-loaded, two-out opportunity, and with a bases-loaded hit by pitch that pushed a run in by Han Seok-hyun and a two-run RBI single by Park Min-woo, they led 4-1.
But in the bottom of the fourth that followed, they called fourth batter and first baseman Oh Young-su back to the bench. He went out to his defensive position during the inning change but was replaced by Do Tae-hoon.
Oh Young-su recorded a swinging strikeout in his first at-bat in the first inning and drew a walk in a two-out, runner-on-second situation in the third. In the top of the fourth with two outs and runners on first and second, he grounded out to the pitcher on a potential additional scoring opportunity. He was replaced while 0-for-3.
Because he showed disappointing form at the plate, it could have looked like they made the substitution for that reason. But when met the next day, Lee Ho-jun protested, "It's not that I took him out because he couldn't hit."
He added, "He swung well. His condition isn't bad," and said, "If the score difference grows a bit, I was going to make a defensive reinforcement substitution. If not, we would have kept (Oh) Young-su because we need him offensively. But early scoring happened, so I took him out right away and explained it to the player," noting that it was definitely not what people commonly call a 'punitive substitution.'
Oh Young-su is one of the players Lee Ho-jun always expects, and despite the early substitution the day before, he again started as the cleanup batter and first baseman that day.
NC's starting lineup is Kim Joo-won (shortstop), Han Seok-hyun (center field), Park Min-woo (second base), Oh Young-su (first base), Park Gun-woo (designated hitter), Lee Woo-seong (left field), Seo Ho-cheol (third base), Kim Hyung-joon (catcher) and Park Si-won (right field).
[OSEN]