The professional baseball team Lotte Giants secured another hard-fought victory after a four-game winning streak. The Nakdong River Derby is now tied at 4 wins and 4 losses.

On the 26th, Lotte achieved a comeback victory, winning 7-6 against the NC Dinos in their 8th matchup at Changwon NC Park in the 2025 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League regular season. With this victory, Lotte redeemed itself after the previous day's (25th) 2-7 loss and maintained its 3rd place with a record of 42 wins, 32 losses, and 3 ties. The NC Dinos, unable to carry on their momentum, remained at 33 wins, 36 losses, and 4 ties. The Nakdong River Derby continues to be tightly contested at 4 wins and 4 losses.

Lotte started with Alex Gaumont as the starting pitcher. The starting lineup included Jeon Jun-woo (left fielder), Jung Hoon (designated hitter), Go Seung-min (first baseman), Reyes (right fielder), Kim Min-sung (third baseman), Yoo Kang-nam (catcher), Jeon Min-jae (shortstop), Han Seung-hyun (center fielder), and Han Tae-yang (second baseman).

NC started with Choi Seong-young as the starting pitcher. The lineup featured Kim Ju-won (shortstop), Kwon Hee-dong (left fielder), Park Geon-woo (right fielder), Davidson (first baseman), Seo Ho-cheol (second baseman), Kim Hwi-jip (third baseman), Kim Hyeong-jun (catcher), Song Seung-hwan (designated hitter), and Cheon Jae-hwan (center fielder).

NC applied pressure in the bottom of the 1st inning, not intimidated by Lotte's ace Gaumont. After one out in the bottom of the 1st, Kwon Hee-dong hit a double to left field, and with Park Geon-woo drawing a walk, NC had a 1st and 2nd base opportunity with one out. Davidson's pop-out to right field left two outs, but Seo Ho-cheol hit a ground ball to shortstop. However, an error by Lotte's shortstop Jeon Min-jae on the throw to first allowed NC to take a 2-0 lead. In the continued 2nd base with two outs, Kim Hwi-jip's clutch hit to left extended the lead to 3-0.

Lotte balanced the score immediately in the top of the 3rd. Lead-off hitter Han Tae-yang hit a double that cleared the right fielder's head, followed by Jeon Jun-woo drawing a walk to create a 1st and 2nd base opportunity with no outs. Jung Hoon's groundout to shortstop resulted in a 1st and 3rd base with one out, but Go Seung-min's clutch hit to right field brought in one run. In the continued one out at 1st and 2nd base, Reyes’s clutch hit to right field brought the score to 2-3. With one out and runners at 1st and 3rd, Kim Min-sung hit a sacrifice fly to center field, successfully tying the game at 3-3.

NC took the lead again in the bottom of the 4th after creating an opportunity with one out and a single by Kim Hwi-jip. Kim Hyeong-jun then hit a clutch double to left-center, putting NC ahead once again. A wild pitch during Song Seung-hwan's at-bat led to a 1st and 3rd base opportunity with one out, and Song Seung-hwan’s infield single broke through Lotte's infield defense, extending the lead to 5-3.

However, Lotte turned the game around with just one big inning in the 5th. In the top of the 5th, lead-off hitter Reyes hit a solo home run to right field, cutting the deficit by one run. Afterward, Kim Min-sung hit a double to left-center, and Yoo Kang-nam was hit by a pitch, creating a no out opportunity with runners at 1st and 2nd base. Jeon Min-jae's pop-out to left field followed, but pinch hitter Na Seung-yeop stepped up.

Na Seung-yeop connected on a 132 km slider from NC's Lee Jun-hyuk with a 2 balls and 2 strikes count, launching a pinch-hit three-run home run to flip the game to 7-5. This was Na Seung-yeop's first career pinch-hit home run and the first home run since April 30 against Kiwoom, marking 57 days without one. There were no additional runs.

However, Lotte saw Gaumont leave after pitching 5⅔ innings, allowing 6 hits, 2 walks, striking out 5, and giving up 5 runs (2 earned). Choi Jun-yong pitched 1⅓ innings, allowing 1 hit, striking out 3, and keeping a scoreless inning, followed by Jeong Cheol-won who pitched 1 inning, allowing one walk, striking out one, and also ended scoreless, with the closer Kim Won-jung preventing any runs in the 9th inning with 2 strikeouts to secure the comeback victory. Gaumont struggled but remained on a personal five-game winning streak.

In the 9th inning, with 2 outs, NC managed to load the bases with three consecutive walks from Choi Jeong-won, Kim Ju-won, and Kwon Hee-dong. Then Park Geon-woo earned a hit-by-pitch, narrowing the margin to one run. However, Davidson's pop-fly to right field halted their comeback attempt.

[OSEN]