Following the sluggish performance of the foreigner duo, even Kyun-an Na, the last bastion, collapsed. Am I going to face a real ordeal now?
Lotte lost 4-5 against Hanwha Eagles in Busan on the 15th, allowing Hanwha Chae Eun-seong a final stroke in the 10th inning.
With this, they recorded 1 win and 2 losses in their 3 home matches against Hanwha this time. In June, after winning against KIA Tigers (2 wins and 1 loss), against KT Wiz (3 losses) and against Samsung Lions (1 win and 2 losses), 3 consecutive losing series followed. The last 9 matches have been 2 wins and 7 losses.
The starting lineup is shaky, and the bullpen is exhausted. Barnes, Strayley, and Na Kyun-an started in three consecutive matches against Hanwha, but all were knocked out before the 5th inning.
In particular, it is regrettable that foreign players cannot do their part. Lotte invested a whopping 26 billion won to strengthen the team last winter. He signed an extension contract with glasses ace Park Se-woong (up to 9 billion won over 5 years), recruited Kang-nam Yoo (up to 8 billion won over 4 years), Jin-hyeok Roh (up to 5 billion won over 4 years), and Hyun-hee Han (up to 4 billion won over 4 years), playing both the other line and the mound. lost.
Strayley ($1 million), Barnes ($1.2 million), and Rex ($1.3 million) invested about 4.5 billion won in three foreign players and signed contract renewals early. It is said that the contract is more generous than expected. It was a contract that pursued ‘stability’ rather than ‘jackpot’.
However, Strayley has an average ERA of 4.72 with 3 wins and 5 losses, and Barnes has only 3 wins and 3 losses with a 4.42 ERA. He is in the bottom ranks among 24 native-foreign starting pitchers who filled regular innings. Rex is also sluggish with a batting average of .241, 2 homers, 24 RBIs, and an OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 0.671. The tying hit in the bottom of the 9th inning against Hanwha that day feels more like a ‘life extension hit’ than a turning point.
With Na Kyun-an, who emerged as a local ace in April, Lotte ran to the top of the league alone (14 wins and 8 losses). It was a 9-game winning streak for the first time in 15 years since 2008, and first place in the regular season for the first time in 11 years since 2012. In May, the starting lineup stabilized and gave hope. Adding 13 wins and 9 losses, set the win-loss margin to +10, and maintained the ‘top 3’ structure with the LG Twins and SSG Landers.
However, in June, it is rapidly shaking. In particular, the shock of being swept after two overtimes in the match against KT at the bottom was great. The whole team seems to be in a slump.
Even in the game that day, starter Na Gyun-an was sluggish with 8 hits (2 home runs) and 3 runs in 4 innings and was replaced early. This is the second time out of 13 starts this year that Na Kyun-an went down the mound before the fifth inning.
The batting line, which was tied to Hanwha Pena’s perfect 4th inning, led to overtime with Kim Min-seok’s two-run four at the end of the 6th inning, Yu Gang-nam’s 8th inning and Rex’s timely hit in the 9th inning. However, first baseman Jeon Jun-woo’s two unfortunate defenses eventually led to defeat.
The future is more difficult. Starting with Incheon SSG on the 16th, Lotte will play 9 consecutive matches in the metropolitan area, leading to Suwon KT and Jamsil LG next week. It is a difficult combination between LG-SSG, which has been fighting for the lead throughout the season, and KT, which received a sweep last time.먹튀검증
Here, SSG, which will play three consecutive matches on the weekend, will have three left-handed musketeers: McCarty, Kim Gwang-hyun, and Elias. This year, it is the most difficult opponent for Lotte, who is weak against lefties.
It has given up 3rd place to the NC Dinos, and is being chased by 5th place Doosan Bears with a difference of 2 games. This 9-game series in the metropolitan area may be a real ordeal.