Where has the 9 billion ace gone, who was leading the Giants' rise with an 8-game winning streak? Park Se-woong failed to create an opportunity for a rebound against his former team, KT, and ended up being the stopper of the winning streak.
On the 10th, Park Se-woong started against the KT Wiz in the 7th game of the season at Suwon KT Wiz Park and pitched 5 innings, allowing 12 hits (including 2 home runs), 2 walks, and striking out 2, resulting in his 5th loss of the season (8 wins). He provided the worst pitching performance that led to the team's 3-12 loss.
Starting from the bottom of the 1st inning, which was 0-0, he gave up the first run. After allowing a double to the leadoff batter, Bae Jeong-dae, which went to the left-center field, and following with a sacrifice bunt by Kim Sang-su, he faced Ahn Hyun-min, who hit an RBI infield single with 1 out and runners on 3rd base. After this, he managed to overcome the situation with 1 out and 1 runner on base by turning Mel Rojas Jr. into a double play on the first pitch.
In the bottom of the 2nd inning, after 2 outs, Park Se-woong overcame a scoring crisis created by Heo Kyung-min's double, but briefly experienced peace before he allowed the leadoff batter, Oh Yun-seok, who was ahead 3-1 in the bottom of the 3rd inning, to reach base with a hit, and then he faced Bae Jeong-dae, who hit a tying two-run home run. The second pitch, a fastball (146 km/h) thrown with a ball count of 0B-1S, went high inside and ended up as a left-field home run with a distance of 124.8 m.
Park Se-woong struggled to find stability. He faced a situation with no outs and runners on 2nd and 3rd base when Kim Sang-su (single to center) and Ahn Hyun-min (double) hit back-to-back hits, and he allowed Rojas to drive in a run with an infield ground ball and additional earned runs. Although he caught the next batter, Jang Seong-woo, with a foul fly on the first pitch, he let a wild pitch occur during Lee Jeong-hoon's at-bat, allowing the runner on 3rd, Ahn Hyun-min, to score.
In the bottom of the 4th inning, trailing 3-5, the leadoff batter, Lee Ho-yeon, started with a solo home run. He allowed a home run over the right field with a distance of 112.6 m on the 3rd pitch, an outside slider (130 km/h) with a ball count of 1B-1S. Afterward, he caught Oh Yun-seok with a pop-up to second base and Bae Jeong-dae with a pop-up to center field, almost ending the inning, but he put himself in crisis by allowing Kim Sang-su and Ahn Hyun-min to walk consecutively, and then gave up an RBI double to Rojas.
The parade of earned runs by Park Se-woong continued. In the bottom of the 5th inning, with a leadoff hit by Lee Jeong-hoon and a double by Heo Kyung-min, he found himself in a no outs, 2nd and 3rd base crisis and allowed an infield ground ball that scored a run to Lee Ho-yeon. Afterward, he struck out Oh Yun-seok looking and stopped Bae Jeong-dae with a ground ball to 3rd base but had already given up 8 runs.
Park Se-woong was replaced by Kim Kang-hyun in the bottom of the 6th inning, trailing 3-8, bringing an unfortunate end to his game. He threw 100 pitches. After allowing 6 earned runs against the Daegu Samsung Lions on May 29 and 5 earned runs against the Sajik Kiwoom on June 4, he only pitched 5 innings today, and the performance was not worthy of the ace title.
Before the 2023 season, Park Se-woong signed a multi-year contract worth 9 billion won with the Lotte team, the first of its kind in the team's history, and now in his third year, he is experiencing a real rollercoaster. From March 29th's game against KT to May 11th's game against Suwon KT, when he was on an 8-game winning streak, the evaluation was that the 9 billion won was not a waste, but after a shaky performance with 5 earned runs in 5 innings in the May 17th game against Sajik Samsung, he rapidly declined and fell into a personal 4-game losing streak.
Following 5 earned runs in 5⅓ innings against the Daegu Samsung on May 29 and 5 earned runs in 5⅓ innings against Kiwoom on June 4, he managed to complete only 5 innings today, and his performance did not match the title of ace at all.
The impact of the ace's struggles was greater than expected. In the bottom of the 7th inning, trailing 3-8, during a 1 out, runners on 1st and 2nd base crisis, Lee Ho-yeon hit a single, but center fielder Jang Du-seong made a fatal error by letting the ball drop behind him, which allowed 2 additional earned runs. Then, Park Jin hit an RBI double against Oh Yun-seok and an RBI infield ground ball against Kim Sang-su, completely losing the advantage.
The Lotte team ultimately suffered a complete defeat of 3-12 against KT, thwarting their challenge for a 3-game winning streak. After three consecutive losses, they gained momentum with a winning series against the Doosan Bears at Jamsil over the weekend, but once again faced defeat on a day Park Se-woong pitched, breaking their rising momentum. The shock of the loss hit even harder because he is, after all, the ace of Lotte.
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