Baseball’s SSG used a late-game “big inning” to pull off a thrilling come-from-behind victory.
The SSG team won 8-7 on the road against Hanwha in the 2024 Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League at Daejeon Hwa Sinsaeng Eagles Park on Monday. SSG avenged the previous day’s loss and earned its 18th win of the season (1-14).
The game was decided in the seventh inning. Trailing 6-2 in the top of the seventh, SSG opened the inning with a single up the middle from leadoff hitter Ko Myung-joon, followed by a walk to Lee Ji-young to put runners on first and second. SSG’s pinch-hitter Ha Jae-hoon flied out to right field, but Choi Ji-hoon drew a walk to load the bases. SSG immediately followed with a sacrifice fly to left field by Choo Shin-soo to make it 3-6, and the next batter, Choi Jung, drew a walk to load the bases again. This is where Han Yoo-seom’s decisive hit came in. Han took a 147-kilometer-per-hour outside fastball on the sixth pitch of the at-bat and smashed a three-run double to left-center field. SSG took advantage of the momentum and Guillermo Heredia followed with a double to right-center field. Heredia took advantage of a throwing error on the opposite field to score. Two quick runs later, SSG took an 8-6 lead.
In their final at-bat in the bottom of the ninth, Hanwha cut the deficit to 7-8 with three consecutive hits by Jung Eun-won, Choi In-ho, and Hwang Young-mook, but Jonathan Peraza struck out to end the game. After the game, SSG head coach Lee Sung-yong said, “The players didn’t give up and we were able to get the win with our concentration in the seventh inning. We did a good job in a difficult game,” he said after the game.
“We’ve had a tough series of games against Hanwha since the beginning of the season, and yesterday (Park) Ji-hwan was unfortunately 카지노사이트 injured, so the whole team wanted to win today,” said Han Yoo-seom. “In the seventh inning, I struck out a lot in my previous at-bats, but I thought, ‘It’s okay to strike out again this time, so let’s put a little more timing in front of the plate,’ and I think that led to a good result.”
Down 1-4 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Park took the mound as the team’s third pitcher of the day and pitched two scoreless innings with three strikeouts to secure the win. It had been 757 days since Minho Park had a win since April 5, 2022, against Suwon KT (one scoreless inning). It has been 920 days since Park Min-ho pitched more than two innings since Oct. 24, 2021, against Daegu Samsung Electronics (2.2 scoreless innings).
“Today was a game I wanted to win unconditionally, but I’m happy that the team came back and I was able to contribute to the victory,” said Park. “Last year, I was thinking about ending my baseball career, but my parents and wife were by my side, supporting me and helping me, so I was able to pitch a winning game today. I can’t thank them enough,” he said. “I also thought of the juniors I’ve played with over the past period in Ganghwado, and even though they are still working hard, I want to give them a message of support that they can also play well in the first team. I hope to continue to play well and contribute a lot to the team.”