4/10 - 4/12 Weekend Roundup and News

It felt like we've been seeing more homers this year. The Joongang Daily confirms it for us. I also liked the shout out to Kim Sang-soo and Ahn Chi-hong at the end. These two are the early front runners for rookie of the year.

On Saturday, Lee Jong-wook hit for the cycle.

Also Lee Seung-yeop appears to be healthy and Lim Chang-yong has picked up where he left off.
On to the roundup...

LG vs. Doosan

4/10 - LG 8, Doosan 5
4/11 - Doosan 13, LG 5
4/12 - Doosan 4, LG 3

Doosan actually lead 5-4 in the 9th inning, but LG mounted a 4-run rally that took most(well, at me at least) completely by surprise. In the bottom of the 9th, LG slugger Roberto Petagine came to the plate with the bases loaded and 1 out. Big Bobby drilled a 2-1 pitch from Lee Yong-chan over the fence in right/center for a game winning, grand slam homerun. The homer was Roberto's 3rd of the day. He finished the game 3-5 with 3 homers, 6 RBI and 3 runs scored. He received the standard dogpile and water bottle shower that comes with game winning homers in the KBO, but it did feel a little muted compared to some of the beatings I've seen take place in the KBO. If it were Lee Jin-yong, his teammates would have chased him into centerfield, knocked him over and kicked him in the ribs repeatedly. Roberto just got jumped on and doused.
Doosan, led by Lee Jong-wook's cycle, battered LG pitching for 13 runs. Lee, Yim Jae-cheol and Choi Joon-seok drove in 3 runs apiece. The biggest story of this game was Lee's cycle. He doubled in the 1st, singled in the 4th, homered in the 5th and tripled in the 7th. Doosan shortstop Son Si-hyeon hit an 'Eff you" homer in the 8th inning. Son finished the game 3-6 with 2 RBI and 2 runs scored.

LG held a 3-1 lead on Sunday after Roberto Petagine hit his 5th homer of the season. Doosan's Kim Dong-joo homered in the 6th to make the score 3-2. Then, in the 8th inning Doosan rallied for 2 runs and took the lead. With a runner on 1st and one out in the 8th, Kim Dong-joo hit a towering fly to center. It should've been an easy out, but LG center fielder Lee Dae-yeong lost the ball in the lights. Kim should've been standing on 2nd, but he threw a tantrum when he thought he popped out. The look on his face when he was on first was only beaten by the look on the face of the LG manager. I thought he was going to run out and strangle poor Lee. Doosan 1st baseman Choi Joon-seok singled up the middle to tie the game at 3. The next batter, Matt Watson, singled through the right side to give Doosan a 4-3 avantage. Doosan reliever Lee Yong-chan managed to avoid giving up a grand slam and nailed down the save.

SK vs. Seoul Heroes

4/10 - SK 16, Heroes 4
4/11 - SK 10, Heroes 3
4/12 - SK 5, Heroes 4

The Heroes were mere mortals on Friday. SK batters pounded Heroes pitching for 5 homeruns, while Koh Hyo-joon struck out 11 Heroes during his 6 innings of work. Koh worked 6 solid innings for SK. He allowed only 2 runs on 2 hits, 1 walk and 1 hit batsman. SK DH Kim Jae-hyeon finished the day 2-4 with a walk, a double, a homer, 4 RBI's and 1 run scored. Kim's homer came in the first inning with 2 runners on base. Park Jeong-kwon, Jeong Geun-woo and Park Kyeong-won(Oan?) also went deep for SK on Friday night.

On Saturday, SK started Song Eun-beom was given an eight run lead to work with and he didn't disappoint. Song worked 6 solid innings of 1-run ball. He allowed 4 hits and one walk with 4 K's. The SK offense exploded for 3 more homeruns. Jeong Geun-woo and Park Kyeong-won hit their 2nd homeruns in as many days during the 10-3 romp.

SK's Kim Kwang-hyeon was handed the ball on Sunday and he turned in mixed results. The 2008 MVP lasted 6 innings, but he 4 runs(3 earned) on 7 hits and 2 walks. He did manage to strike out 7 Heroes during his start. By the time Kim left the game, SK was down 4-0. In the 7th inning the Wyverns mounted a 4-run rally to tie the game. SK catcher Park Kyeong-won continued his hot weekend on Sunday. He drove in 2 on a base hit with the bases loaded in the 7th. Then in the 9th he hit a sac fly to score the go ahead run. The veteran backstop finished 2-4 with 3 RBI. Heroes starting pitcher Jeong Won-sam recieved an ND for his fine effort. Jeong worked 6 innings of 1-run baseball. He allowed 7 hits and 1 walk, but he struck out 8 Wyverns.

Hanwha vs. Lotte

4/10 - Hanwha 8, Lotte 3
4/11 - Hanwha 10, Lotte 6
4/12 - Lotte 7, Hanwha 4

Ryu Hyeon-jin cruised to his 2nd victory on Friday. The Hanwha ace worked 7 1/3 solid innings. He allowed 2 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks. He managed to strike out 8 Lotte Giants. Song Seung-joon wasn't nearly as effective. Song was battered for 8 runs(6 earned) during his 4 innings of work. He surrendered homers to both Lee Beom-ho and Oh Seon-jin.

Saturday's game felt more like a homerun derby than a baseball game. The two teams combinded for 7 bombs on the night. Lee Dae-ho and Karim Garcia went back-to-back in the 7th inning off of Mr. 3000(innings) Song Jin-woo, but it was too little, too late. Hanwha had already battered Lotte starter Heo Joon-hyeok for 9 runs(8 earned). Hanwha hitters Kang Dong-woo, Shin Kyeong-hyeon and Yeon Kyeong-heum all hit 2-run homers off of Heo.

Lotte was able to get some measure of revenge on Sunday with another homerun barrage. The Giants hit 4 more, including 2 from 2nd baseman Cho Seong-hwan. Lotte 3rd baseman Lee Dae-ho went 4-5 with a homer, 2 runs scored and 2 RBI. Victor Diaz continued his hot start with another homer. The 4th inning round tripper was his 3rd of the season. Jon Adkins pitched a scoreless 9th inning for Lotte and earned his 3rd save of the season.

Samsung vs. KIA

4/10 - Samsung 5, KIA 2
4/11 - Samsung 2, KIA 1 (10)
4/12 - KIA 1, Samsung 0

This series was all about the pitching. Samsung's Yoon Seong-hwan is emerging as a legit staff ace. On Friday night, Yoon worked 6 2/3 innings of 1-run ball. The only run he allowed came on a solo homer by catcher Kim Sang-hoon in the 3rd inning. Yoon scattered 5 hits and struck out 4 while earning his 2nd W of the season. Samsung first baseman Chae Tae-in hit his first homer after coming back from his 5 game suspension. He was suspended due to his role in the offseason gambling scandal. Oh Seung-hwan struck out the side to record his 2nd save. The reports of his demise were premature.

Runelvys Hernandez was forced out of Saturday's game due to an ankle injury and the Samsung bullpen was forced into action. 6 different pitchers combined to limit KIA to one run. KIA's lone run came on a solo homer from Choi Hee-seop in the 4th inning. Samsung wasn't much better at the plate. Until the 10th inning, Samsung's only run came from a solo homerun by shortstop Park Jin-man. In the 10th, Samsung's Heo Seung-min was able to score from third on a defensive miscue by KIA third baseman Ahn Chi-hong. Ahn couldn't find the handle on a slow grounder. Oh Seung-hwan pitched a scoreless bottom of 10th to record his 3rd save of the season. Yoon Seok-min took a tough ND on Saturday he worked 9 innings of 1-run ball and came up with nothing to show for he. During his 137(!) pitch outing Yoon allowed 1 run on 6 hits and 4 walks with 7 K's.

Samsung's Francisco Cruceta was really lucky on Sunday. He was more than a little wild, but KIA never really made him pay for it. Cruceta worked 6 1/3 innings of 1-run ball, but he walked 5 and allowed 4 hits. The only run of the game came in the 4th inning with runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out. KIA rightfielder Lee Hyeong-gon lifted a fly ball to deep right to score the man from third and give KIA a 1-0 avantage. KIA starter, Yang Hyeon-jong tossed 8 shutout innings. He allowed 4 hits with 0 walks and struck out 4. KIA reliever Han Ki-joo struck out 2 Lions during a scoreless 9th inning and earned his first save of the season.