It was the “shocking one minute” that broke the tension of a two-game, three-night series that everyone waited for with bated breath.
Samsung came from behind to defeat KIA 5-1 in the first game of the 2024 Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) Korean Series, which concluded today (Nov. 23). The team resumed the game with a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth inning, which had been suspended due to heavy rain the previous day (Nov. 21), but was unable to protect the lead.
The big blow came in the bottom of the seventh inning.
With left-handers Lee Seung-hyun and Kim Tae-hoon faltering and runners on second and third with one out, the Samsung bench called on Lim Chang-min. They trusted their main weapon, the splitter, which can be hit for strikes or misses, and Lim's experience. Lim seemed to live up to expectations, throwing five consecutive splitters against Seo Jian-chang to induce a ground ball to first base.
But when it mattered most, Lim's splitter and experience betrayed Samsung.
Lim's fifth splitter against Park Chan-ho bounced heavily, allowing the tying run, Kim Sun-bin, who was on third base, to come home. It was a wild pitch that was out of bounds right next to home plate.
Before the shock wore off, Lim threw another wild pitch to the next batter, Socrates. This time, it bounced relatively close to the plate, but in the opposite direction of the already panicked Kang Min-ho's mitt. 카지노사이트 Choi Won-joon came home from third base and the game remained tied.
The two blasts lasted just one minute.
In that one minute, Samsung's two-run lead and the tension of the first game of the Korean Series was erased. Samsung then gave up back-to-back RBI singles to Socrates and Kim Do-young and an RBI double to Kim Tae-gun in the eighth inning.
The bleeding from the two blowouts was significant. From left-hander Lee Seung-hyun to Kim Tae-hoon, Lim Chang-min, and Kim Yoon-soo, Samsung was unable to maintain the momentum. Nor did the offense fight back. Starting with no outs and runners on first and second with no outs in the top of the sixth inning, there was no late comeback for the second game.
Samsung lost a lot in the long first game.