Lotte Giants, which briefly led the KBO League in the early part of the 2023 season, is facing a crisis as its ranking has recently fallen to seventh place. We are making every effort to rebound, such as replacing foreign pitchers and batters.
Attention is focusing on whether Lotte’s “team no-hit no-run” achieved in the match against the strong SSG Landers at Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 6th will signal a rebound.
Lotte defeated SSG 1-0. Starter Aaron Wilkerson led the atmosphere by striking out 6 and striking out 6 runs while giving up only 1 walk without a hit in 7 innings. Then, Koo Seung-min blocked the 8th inning perfectly. Finisher Kim Won-joong gave up a walk after two outs, but the last batter, Choi Ji-hoon, was treated as an infield grounder and achieved a record.
‘Team no hit no run’ refers to a record in which a team’s mound does not give up a single hit and score until the end of the game. It is a record that has only come out three times in KBO league history. The LG Twins wrote their first record against the NC Dinos in October 2014, and in the opening game in April of last year, SSG wrote a ‘team no-hit no-run’ against NC.
This record is possible only when the combination of strong selection and solid bullpen is achieved.
Wilkerson, who was recruited as a substitute foreign player for Dan Strayley, recorded 95 pitches through the 7th inning. He had the possibility of achieving an individual no-hit no-run, and the balance of 0 continued, but Lotte started the bullpen from the 8th inning.
At the end of the 8th inning, Yoon Dong-hee hit the final blow, and Koo Seung-min and Kim Won-joong completely locked the back door, completing the record.
One thing to note is that LG in 2014 and SSG in 2022, which achieved “team no-hit no-run,” both advanced to fall baseball. LG was the team with the strongest bullpen in the 2014 season, and SSG was the league champion last year.
With a record of 43 wins and 49 losses, Lotte is 4.5 games behind the 5th place Doosan Bears (47 wins, 44 losses, 1 draw), which is the last line to advance to the postseason.
Lotte’s winning rate dropped significantly as it only recorded 1 win and 7 losses in 8 games from the 3rd game against Gwangju at the end of July until the 6th when they achieved ‘team no hit no run’. In a situation where the atmosphere has subsided like this, it has recently won a valuable victory centered on Wilkerson, who has recently emerged as Lotte’s new hope.
After joining Lotte at the end of July, Wilkerson took the mound in three games and recorded an average ERA of 2.50 with one win and no loss.
In the Jamsil expedition, which was the KBO debut match, it became the number one contributor to blocking the Doosan Bears’ 12-game winning streak.
In the match against NC on the 1st, they recorded a quality start and contributed to the team playing an equal game until the middle of the game, but the team lost after an extended game.
And Wilkerson once again showed a brilliant pitch in the second appearance of the week against SSG. Although he didn’t win the start, he perfectly set the stage for the team to win.
The mound, which had been shaken until recently, is gradually announcing the possibility of a rebound. The homework is to revive the stagnant lineup and bring it back into harmony. Will Lotte be able to continue the momentum of ‘team no hit no run’? Lotte will return to Busan to meet KIA after three consecutive away matches with Kiwoom Heroes this week.
CREATED BY: 스포츠토토