Leader LG continued its three-game winning streak with a victory in the ‘El Quiracico’.
LG defeated Kiwoom 5-3 in a KBO home game at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on Nov. 11.
A home run by Kim Hyun-soo (35) in the bottom of the eighth inning, when the score was tied 3-3, decided the game.
After leadoff hitter Hong Chang-ki (30) singled to right, 섯다 LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop ordered Jeong Ju-hyun (33) to lay down a sacrifice bunt.
The successful sacrifice bunt put Kim Hyun-soo on first and second base, and he took a 134-kilometer-per-hour slider from Kiwoom’s third pitcher, Moon Sung-hyun (32), over the right field wall in a three-ball, one-strike situation.
LG closer Ko Woo-seok (25), who took the mound in the top of the ninth, struck out the side for his 10th save of the season, becoming the sixth pitcher in baseball history to record double-digit saves in five consecutive years.
Kiwoom starter Jang Jae-young, 21, pitched six innings and three runs for his first quality start (six or more innings pitched and no more than three earned runs) as a professional, but it was overshadowed by his team’s loss.
The game also saw LG’s foreign-born No. 4 hitter Austin (29) ejected for protesting a called strike.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Jang Jae-young threw a fastball to Austin, who was batting for the third time in the game, on a one-ball, two-strike count.
Umpire Song Soo-geun, who was watching the pitch, called it a strike, which was immediately challenged by Austin.
Using the Generalized Additive Model (GAM) to predict the call on this pitch against a right-handed hitter like Austin, the probability of a strike is 95.5%.
The problem is not with this pitch, but with the second pitch, which is high and outside.
In the same situation, there’s only a 3.5% chance of it being called a strike, but umpire Song calls it a strike.
When this ball came in, Austin left the batter’s box and came back as if he didn’t understand.
Austin’s second pitch in the bottom of the sixth with only a 3.5 percent chance of a strike.
That’s not to say that Song’s calls weren’t problematic.
Of the 51 pitches he called strikes, only two, including this one, had a strike probability of over 50 percent.
There were also two balls that were called balls with a probability of over 50% that were inverted strikes.
(Machine learning models like GAMs typically use a 50% expected probability of a strike as a criterion for deciding between strikes and balls.)
But it only takes one bad call to create a big problem.
The fourth pitch that eventually caused Austin to explode was most likely not a strike, but the second pitch was definitely a strike.
LOTTE’s Sung-bin Son celebrates his first three-hit game as a professional.
Seventh-ranked Lotte defeated sixth-ranked KIA 7-1 in the final game of the day to narrow the gap between the two teams to 1.5 games.
Lotte took a 2-0 lead after Ahn Chi-hong (33) hit a solo home run in the first inning and Jeong Hoon (36) in the second.
Ahn struck again in the fifth inning, and Jeong stole second base after drawing a walk in the sixth before coming home on a single by Kim Min-seok (19).
Son Sung-bin (21), who walked Kim Min-seok with runners on first and second, drove in the winning run in the eighth.
Son, who also singled to left in the bottom of the fifth, 온라인섯다 had his first three-hit game since his professional debut.
Wearing the starting mask on the day, Sohn also did his part defensively, combining with starter Wilkerson (34) for six scoreless innings.
Wilkerson, who led the team to a no-hitter against SSG in Game 6, continued his streak of 13 consecutive scoreless innings.
Wilkerson allowed six hits and no walks while striking out five on the day.
Samsung’s Kim Hyun-jun delivers the hit that knocked out SSG closer Seo Jin-yong.
Samsung pulled off a 5-4 come-from-behind victory over SSG in Munhwa.
Samsung, led 4-2 through seven innings by ace Buchanan (34), but allowed a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the eighth despite using four bullpen pitchers.
However, in the top of the ninth, they scored the winning run off SSG closer Seo Jin-yong (31).
After back-to-back singles by Kang Kang-ul (32) and Oh Jae-il (37), Lee Jae-hyun (20) drew a walk to load the bases for Samsung.
Kim Hyun-jun (21) came up to bat and hit a hard line drive to the shortstop, but he reached first base before the ball.
The pinch runner, Kim Dong-jin (27), who was on third base, came home to retake the lead at 5-4.
Samsung brought in closer Oh Seung-hwan (41) to close out the game in the bottom of the ninth.
Samsung closer Seung-Hwan Oh.
With the win, Samsung, which has a winning percentage of 0.423 (41 wins, 1 draw, 56 losses), moved into eighth place, 0.001 ahead of Hanwha (38 wins, 5 draws, 52 losses – 0.422 winning percentage).
Hanwha suffered its fifth consecutive defeat when it was knocked out 4-11 by Doosan in the Daejeon Anbang match earlier in the day.
NC also leapfrogged KT into third place with a 0.001 winning percentage.
NC improved its winning percentage to 0.532 (50 wins, 1 draw, 55 losses) with a 7-3 victory over visiting Suwon to end a six-game losing streak against KT.
KT, whose three-game winning streak was snapped, dropped to 0.531 (51 wins, 2 draws, 45 losses) 고스톱 and dropped to third place after three days.
Game selection on the 12th
Jamsil: Kiwoom McKinney-LG Choi Won-tae △Resignation: KIA Yoon Young-cheol-LOTTE Jeong Sung-jong △Literature: Samsung Baek Jeong-hyun-SSG McCarty △Suwon: NC Song Myung-gi-KT Ko Young-pyo △Daejeon: Doosan Kwak-bin-Hanwha Moon Dong-joo