“June?”

Baseball player Na Seung-yeop of the Lotte Giants was surprised when he heard that the last victory of starting pitcher Park Se-woong, who secured a win against KT on the 29th, was in June of last year. It was a victory that both Park Se-woong and Lotte had been waiting for.

On the 29th, Park Se-woong pitched as a starter in the regular season game against KT Wiz held at Busan Sajik Stadium, throwing 101 pitches over 6 innings, giving up 5 hits, 3 walks, striking out 6, allowing 1 run, and leading his team to a 3-1 victory.

This was Park Se-woong's first win of the season, and it came 275 days after June 27 of last year in the game against KIA at Sajik (6 innings, 5 hits, 4 walks, 4 strikeouts, 1 run). It was a valuable win achieved after 9 months and 6 days.

On that day, Park Se-woong started off difficultly, allowing runners on base each inning. He gave up a right-field hit to lead-off hitter Kang Baek-ho in the first inning. He induced a double play from Rohas, but after 2 outs, he gave up another left-field hit to Heo Kyung-min, allowing a runner on base. He escaped the first inning by striking out Kim Min-hyuk.

In the second inning, he retired Jang Sung-woo with a second baseman's fly out and struck out Hwang Jae-kyun. After 2 outs, he gave up a left-field hit to Cheon Seong-ho but induced Bae Jung-dae to pop out to the second baseman to get through the second inning. In the bottom of the second, Na Seung-yeop took the lead with a solo home run, but Park Se-woong quickly lost that lead. In the third, he induced a ground ball to shortstop from lead-off hitter Kim Sang-soo but issued a walk to Kang Baek-ho. After inducing a ground ball to second from Rohas for an out at first, he gave up another right-field hit to Heo Kyung-min, putting himself in a 2-out, 1st and 3rd crisis. He subsequently allowed a run in a somewhat unfortunate situation. He induced a slow ground ball from Kim Min-hyuk between 1st and 2nd base. However, second baseman Kim Min-seong had to run a long distance to make the play, and Kim Min-hyuk reached first base safely. As they battled for the ball, the runner on third scored.

After that, Jang Sung-woo struck out again, successfully wrapping up the third inning. In the fourth, he induced a ground ball from Hwang Jae-kyun to shortstop and struck out Cheon Seong-ho. Although he seemed to be handling things easily after inducing a ground ball to Bae Jung-dae to shortstop, a throwing error by shortstop Han Tae-yang led to a 2-out, 2nd base crisis. After issuing a walk to Kim Sang-soo, he amplified the crisis to a 2-out, 1st and 2nd situation. Facing Kang Baek-ho, Park Se-woong induced a fly out to left fielder and escaped the crisis.

In the top of the fifth, he caused a crisis by issuing a walk to lead-off hitter Rohas. However, he handled Heo Kyung-min with a ground ball to the second baseman, induced a ground ball from Kim Min-hyuk to the pitcher, and struck out Jang Sung-woo again to get through the fifth inning.

In the bottom of the fifth, Lotte held a 3-1 lead. Park Se-woong handled the top of the sixth cleanly. He retired Hwang Jae-kyun with a fly out to center field, struck out Cheon Seong-ho, and got Bae Jung-dae with a fly out to right field, completing his assignment with the first 1-2-3 inning of the day.

That day, Park Se-woong utilized a four-seam fastball reaching up to 150 km. He effectively mixed 48 four-seam fastballs, 27 sliders, 20 curves, and 6 forkballs to complete his quality start.

After the game, Park Se-woong said, “I am glad to be able to repay the fans who came to the home opener with a victory, even in the cold weather.” He also noted, “While preparing for this game, the coach advised me to make the angle of the slider bigger, and I focused on that, receiving a lot of help from coaches Joo Hyung-kwang and Lee Jae-yul. I want to express my gratitude.”

He added, “It’s still early in the season, and the players prepared well. I believe we have the strength to rise as our condition improves.” He vowed, “I will pitch to ensure the team can win more games ahead.” There was a glimpse of the ace's determination for the team's victories rather than just focusing on his win after 9 months.

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