‘4 hours and 3 minutes of bloodshed → 365 kilometers of travel’ Park Jin-man “If you’re a professional athlete, you have to win
The Samsung Lions dropped their 11th game of the season to the Lotte Giants at Munsoo Baseball Stadium in Ulsan, South Korea, on Sunday, losing 1-2 in extra innings.메이저사이트
Starting pitcher Won Tae-in pitched 6⅔ innings of five-hit ball with one walk and four strikeouts, but the Lions were unable to capitalize on a leadoff single by Koo Ja-rook in the top of the first inning.
There were chances to win the game. In the top of the 11th inning of extra innings, Lotte had the bases loaded. However, foreign hitter Jose Pirela, who was expected to hit a home run, only hit an infield grounder, ending the inning without a run.
The Samsung bench showed its determination to take control of the game by bringing in “stone cold” Oh Seung-hwan to start the bottom of the 11th inning. Seung-hwan Oh struck out the leadoff hitter, Ahn Kwon-soo, on a fly ball to center field and Lee Hak-joo on a grounder to short.
However, Oh gave up a walk to Park Seung-wook and a single to Kim Min-seok to put runners on second and third with no outs, and then gave up the game-winning hit to Yoo Kang-nam. Samsung traveled to Seoul for a weekend series against the Doosan Bears, ending a four-hour, three-minute battle with a futile loss.
It’s more than 365 kilometers from Munsu Baseball Stadium in Ulsan to the hotel in Gangnam that Samsung uses for every trip to Jamsil. With little time to recover from the long game, the team piled into buses and traveled through the night to Seoul.
“Won Tae-in pitched the best he could, but the batters couldn’t help him,” said Samsung coach Park Jin-man before the game against Doosan on Aug. 8. “The result was a loss and the players were tired, but I think they had a fun game, laughing and crying.”
He’s not too worried about long-distance travel fatigue. He emphasized that it is hard, but professional athletes should try to show good performance even in a tough schedule.
“I deliberately slowed down the training time today. “It’s not just this time, but the players have been through this before,” he said, “and they have to overcome it because they have to play. I hope they will show their strong will in the game.”
Meanwhile, Samsung’s starting lineup consisted of Kim Hyun-joon (center field), Kim Sung-yoon (right field), Koo Ja-uk (left field), Kang Min-ho (catcher), Pirela (designated hitter), Oh Jae-il (first base), Ryu Ji-hyuk (third base), Lee Jae-hyun (shortstop), and Kim Ho-jae (second base). The starting pitcher will be veteran underhanded Kim Dae-woo.
“Ryu Ji-hyuk wasn’t feeling well the day before, but he’s recovered and will start again,” Park said, adding, “Kim Ji-chan has some discomfort in his back, so we need to check his condition until today.”