LG Twins’ Park Hae-min used his quick feet and base running skills to score the winning run.
Lotte and LG play at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on Sunday. The ninth inning was a wild one. LG closer Yoo Young-chan gave up a run on back-to-back doubles in the top of the ninth with a 5-3 lead, and three consecutive batters walked to load the bases to tie the game at 5-5.
In the bottom of the ninth, Lotte closer Kim Won-joong was shaky. After giving up a leadoff single to Park Hae-min, he fouled off back-to-back pitches to LG batters trying to lay down a bunt, putting the bases loaded.
Ahn Ik-hoon hit the second pitch to the outfield, which was playing forward defense. It was a short fly ball to left-center field. As center fielder Kim Min-seok caught the ball, third baseman Park Hae-min tried to tag up at home. He touched home plate faster than the Lotte Beasts could replay the play and scored the winning run.
“It was a short distance, but the (center fielder’s) jumping position was very unstable, so I thought it was enough to win the game at home,” Park said after the game.
“When it first flew, I thought it might be a hit (that didn’t make it), but the way he came in was so unstable, and I was an outfielder myself, so it’s not easy to get back into position, so I took a chance,” he added.
When asked if it was the shortest sacrifice fly, Park said, “In a way, if the first batter is out with the bases loaded, it puts a lot of pressure on the next batter, so I took a little more risk. Of course, there was Hyun-soo, who has a really good feeling behind him, and 먹튀검증 Bon-hyuk, who is really unstoppable in April, but I just looked ahead and played.”
While on first base, pitcher Kim Won-joong threw several strikes. “I didn’t want to run,” Park said, “but I thought, ‘Let’s not get killed by the pitch. Instead, I saw the pitcher shake a little bit as he kept throwing strikes at me, so I thought, ‘Let’s not get hit by a pitch,’ and I held on to the lead.”
In the bottom of the ninth, he led off with a single and distracted the pitcher with a bunt single. He used his quick feet to score the game-winning run.