5/15 Roundup and News

Lotte 13, LG 4
W - Jang Won-joon (4-3), L - Park Myeong-hwan (2-3)
Lotte HR - Karim Garcia (10), Hong Seong-heun (8), Kang Min-ho (7) LG HR - None

13-4 makes this game sound close. LG actually trailed 13-0 at one point in this game. Lotte starter Jang Won-joon shut the Twins down, while the Lotte offense torched whichever warm body the Twins threw out there. Jang tossed 6 shutout innings(100 pitches, 67 strikes). He allowed 4 hits and 1 walk while striking out 8. Karim Garcia appears to be getting over his toe injury. Karim went 2-3 with a solo homer, 1 RBI and 2 runs scored. The game got out of hand in the 5th inning. Lotte catcher Kang Min-ho clubbed a grand slam to put the Giants up 7-0. Lotte rallied for 6 more runs in the 6th inning. LG mounted a couple fake rallies, but they never came close to threatening the Lotte lead.

Samsung 5, Nexen 0
W - Brandon Knight (4-2), L - Geum Min-cheol (4-5)
Samsung HR - None Nexen HR - None

Look at Brandon Knight finding his 2009 form! Sir Brandon tossed 7 shutout innings(125 pitches, 76 strikes) against a streaky Nexen offense. The White Knight gave up only 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 6. Samsung used Knight's excellent effort and a 4-run rally in the 4th inning to an easy W. The 4th inning was an assembly line rally. They just kept the line moving. Samsung center fielder Lee Yeong-wook and left fielder Oh Jeong-bok both drove in a pair of runs in the rally.

Doosan 6, SK 5
W - Les Walrond (1-0), L - Ken Kadokura (7-2)
Doosan HR - None SK HR - Park Jae-sang (4), Na Ju-hwan (3)

Look at Les motivating! I'm sorry, I really don't like Doosan very much, but I have a lot of respect for Les Walrond. He's always appeared to have a positive attitude and comes off as a genuine guy. It's been sad to see a guy with the right attitude stuck in the Futures League and mop up duty. It's easy for non-Korean residents to get annoyed with their living situation in Korea. It happens to me every so often. But Les appears to be maintaining a positive attitude while he's been stuck in a less than desirable role. Les got the start last night and it was cool to see him earn the W, even if he does play for Doosan. Walrond tossed 5 innings(97 pitches, 58 strikes) of 2-run baseball. He allowed 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 6. Facing an early 2-0 deficit the Doosan Bears launched an rally in the 5th inning. By the time the dust had settled, the Bears had turned a 2-0 deficit to a 5-2 lead. Left fielder Lee Seong-yeol hit a single with the bases loaded to tie the game at 2-2. 3rd baseman Kim Dong-ju hit another 2-run single to put Doosan up 4-2. Kim would score on a basehit from 1st baseman Choi Joon-seok. Doosan added an insurance run in the 8th inning on an RBI single from center fielder Lee Jong-wook. SK rallied back with a 2-run homer from left fielder Park Jae-sang in the 8th and a solo homer from shortstop Na Ju-hwan in the 9th. Both homers came off of the usually untouchable Doosan closer Lee Yong-chan, but the final outs were recorded before SK could do any more damage.

Hanhwa 4, KIA 3
W - Julio DePaula (1-4), L - Kim Hee-geol (1-3), S - Yang Hoon (3)
Hanhwa HR - None KIA HR - None

Both starting pitchers were competent enough to not figure in the decision. Both starters did a good enough job of keeping the opposition off the scoreboard that this game went to the bullpens. I really can't believe Hanhwa didn't give up a dozen runs. Hanhwa starter Yoo Won-sang tossed 6 2/3 innings(102 pitches, 70 strikes) of 3-run ball. Yoo allowed 6 hits and 2 walks while striking out 8. Roman Colon made his 2nd KBO start and didn't look awful. Colon threw 5 1/3 innings(68 pitches, 44 strikes) and allowed 2 runs. He gave up 5 hits and 1 walk while striking out 2. Hanhwa rallied from a 3-0 early deficit to tie the game in the 7th on an RBI single from shortstop Oh Seon-jin. Oh finished 2-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Hanhwa would break the 3-3 tie in the 8th inning. With runners on 1st and 2nd, 3rd baseman Song Kwang-min hit an off-the-wall double to break the tie. Yang Hoon threw a scoreless 9th for the save. Yang struck out 2 of the 3 batters he faced.