5/29 Roundup and News

KIA 7, Lotte 5
W - Son Yeong-min (4-1), L - Ryan Sadowski (2-3)
KIA HR - None Lotte HR - Cho Seong-hwan (4)

Ryan Sadowski had a rough Sunday. Ryan was battered for seven runs on six hits and three walks during his 3 1/3 innings of work. His nemesis was KIA shortstop Kim Seon-bin. Kim tagged a double off of Ryan and a double off of reliever Lee Jeong-min. Kim and was responsible for driving in four runs. Lee came in after Ryan was removed and promptly made sure all of his inherited runners scored by leaving one up in the zone to Kim.

KIA basically sat on the lead while Lotte picked up a few runs and made the score look good for the newspapers.

KIA left fielder Kim Won-seop left the game in the fourth inning after hurting his ankle sliding into second on a double. He's day-to-day.

SK 4, Samsung 0
W - Gary Glover (5-1), L - Bae Yeong-su (5-3)
SK HR - None Samsung HR - None

Not very many KBO teams would have beaten Gary Glover on Sunday. There wasn't a hard hit ball off a Samsung bat until right fielder Bae Yeong-seop hit a double in the seventh inning. Glover threw seven shutout innings(104 pitches, 59 strikes). The Glove gave up three hits, three walks and a hit batsman while striking out four.

SK picked up a RBI double from right fielder Cho Dong-hwa and a RBI single from DH Choi Dong-su in the first inning. The Wyverns never looked back.

Ryan Garko was the only Samsung batter that had any success on Sunday. When I write, "had any success," I mean he made fewer outs than times on base. Garko walked twice and threw his body in front of a pitch once.

Doosan 6, Hanhwa 3
W - Jeong Jae-hoon (2-2), L - Ma Il-yeong (0-1), S - Kim Sang-hyeon (1)
Doosan HR - None Hanhwa HR - None

Doosan actually held a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning, but the Hanhwa offense rallied and took a 3-2 lead. Pinch hitter Lee Yang-gi singled to center with runners on first and third. The lead runner scored on the base hit and the trailer scored when the Doosan defense basically fell asleep and forgot about him. It was...bizarre. Everyone just stared at each other when the ball came back to the infield. All the while Hanhwa was taking the lead.

Doosan must have woken up after their quick nap because they answered right back in the bottom of the eighth with a four-run rally to take a 6-2 lead. Right fielder Lee Seong-yeol and catcher Choi Seung-hwan both hit two-run singles during the rally.

The Doosan bullpen closed out the game with a quiet ninth inning.

Nexen 8, LG 4
W - Lee Jeong-hoon (2-0), L - Park Hyeon-joon (7-2)
Nexen HR - Cho Jung-geun (2) LG HR - Lee Byeong-gyu (8)

Nexen knocked around LG starter Park Hyeon-joon during his three plus innings of work and basically sat on a lead until the game ended. Hopefully this will be the end of any MVP/Best Pitcher talk for Park. There has been a lot of smoke and mirrors with him this year.

Nexen center fielder Yoo Han-joon, DH Cho Jung-geun and first baseman Kang Byeong-sik all drove in two runs on Sunday.

LG right fielder Lee Byeong-gyu has enjoyed a renaissance this season. Lee was a star in the KBO before he went to the NPB and struggled for a few years. He was an also-ran for most of last year, but he's found his former form this season. Lee went 2-4 with a walk and a solo homer.