‘Winning Series Against No. 1 KIA’ Manager Lee “I’m sorry I couldn’t give Duggar his first win”
“It’s a shame we couldn’t take advantage of Duggar’s win”
The SSG Landers won 7-5 against the KIA Tigers of the Shinhan Bank SOL Bank KBO League 2024 at SSG Landers Field in Incheon, South Korea, on April 18. The win gave them a 2-1 series lead in the three-game midweek series.
Starting pitcher Robert Dugger pitched five innings, allowing one run on three hits with one walk and three strikeouts. The bullpen of Cho Byung-hyun (three runs in ⅔ innings), Ko Hyo-joon (no runs in ⅔ innings), Noh Kyung-eun (one run in two innings), and Moon Seung-won (one run in one inning) couldn’t protect Dugger’s first win, but they didn’t give up the game-winning run, setting the stage for the team’s victory. Moon earned his sixth save of the season.
At the plate, Guillermo Heredia went 2-for-4 with two doubles, a home run, four RBIs and one run scored. Han Yoo-seom also hit his ninth home run of the season. Lee Ji-young also had a multi-hit performance. Rookie Ji-hwan Park had an Altoran-like performance, going 1-for-3 with a double, two runs scored and a walk.
In a postgame interview, Lee said, “It was a tough game because of me (the pitching change in the sixth inning). But we were able to win with the concentration of the players. In a difficult situation, the players stuck together and achieved a winning series. It’s about focus and the power of one team,” he said after the victory.
Starting pitcher Dugger pitched his best game in his KBO debut, but the bullpen was unable to secure the win. Lee said, “It’s a shame that we couldn’t give Dugger the win. (Lee) Ji-young and Dugger prepared well for today’s game and induced good 안전놀이터 pitches. (Noh) Kyung-eun pitched well in the second inning,” said Lee.
“In the middle of the order, Eredia and (Han) Yoo-seom-yi had two home runs and six RBIs,” said Lee, “and our center fielders did their job, which helped us win the game. In the absence of (Choi) Jung-i, (Kim) Sung-hyun made several great plays at third base. Rookie Ji-hwan Park didn’t look intimidated in his first start and played like an alto in both offense and defense. Everyone worked so hard during the three-game midweek series. We will prepare well for the three-game series against LG on the weekend and hope to play a good game.”
SSG will begin a three-game home series against LG on the 19th. SSG announced Park Jong-hoon as the starting pitcher. LG will start Choi Won-tae.