‘August Dae-Bo-geun’ returns to the cleanup trio six years after his professional debut.
The Lotte Giants will play the final game of the midweek series against the Samsung Lions at Munsu Baseball Stadium in Ulsan on July 7. With the series tied at 1-1, this is the game to decide whether or not to win the series.
On this day, Samsung will play with a lineup of Kim Min-seok (center fielder)먹튀검증, Lee Jung-hoon (designated hitter), Ahn Chi-hong (first base), Jeon Jun-woo (left fielder), Lee Jung-geun (catcher), Noh Jin-hyuk (shortstop), Gudrum (third base), Go Seung-min (right fielder), and Park Seung-wook (second base).
Compared to the previous day, Jeon Jun-woo, who played left field for the first time in a long time, Ahn Chi-hong and Park Seung-wook, who played first and second base, respectively, No Jin-hyuk, who played shortstop, Nico Goodrum, who played third base after five consecutive games of errors, and Ko Seung-min, who started in right field for the second consecutive day, stand out.
Doosan-Lotte game at Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 3rd. Yoo Kang-nam walks into the dugout after a scoreless first inning. Busan=Jung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com/2023.9.3/
The most impressive thing is the No. 5 hitter, Lee Jung-geun. Since his debut in 2018, he has mostly been batting in the lower order of 7-9.
In August, he experienced the best month of his life. Throwing off the yoke of a perennial 1-hitter, he showed off his bat with a monthly batting average of 4-for-33 with 18 runs (41 RBI in 51 at-bats), one home run and nine RBI. His 4-for-5 slugging percentage (5-for-2) and 6-for-6 on-base percentage (6-for-5) led to a whopping 1.179 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage). He hit his first home run of the season (and second of his career) and his first career triple. He also raised his batting average into the double digits.
However, his bat cooled off a bit in mid-August after the return of star catcher Yoo Kang-nam. While it’s a small sample size, it was still a devastating month, outpacing fellow August four-hitters Samsung’s Koo Ja-rook (94 at-bats, 1.139) and Doosan’s Kim Jae-ho (83 at-bats, 1.135).
A game between the Lotte Giants and Samsung Lions of the 2023 KBO League was played on June 6 at Munsu Baseball Stadium in Ulsan, South Korea. Lotte’s Gudrum laments his error on Samsung’s Oh Jae-il’s hit with runners on first and second in the second inning. Ulsan=Park Jae-man 기자pjm@sportschosun.com/2023.09.06/
He is 0-for-3 with a walk and a hit in September. He started against the Busan Doosan Bears on Sept. 4 but went 0-for-2 with a walk and a strikeout, and went 0-for-1 as a pinch-hitter against Samsung Electronics the day before.
Lotte acting manager Lee Jong-woon said, “Yoo Kang-nam played two games, so I gave him one game off. Lee Jung-geun is in good shape. We need to give him a chance, and Kang has to play today and tomorrow, so we made changes on many levels.”