In a battle of teams going nowhere fast in South Korean baseball, the Lotte Giants defeated the Kiwoom Heroes 3-1 on Tuesday.
The Giants broke a 1-1 tie with two runs in the top of the ninth inning at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, winning consecutive games for the first time this month and just the second time since the start of July.
The Heroes, with their Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason hopes fading fast, have dropped nine straight games.
These two clubs are looking to stay afloat in different types of races: the Giants, trying to avoid falling further behind in the battle for the last postseason spot, the Heroes, trying to avoid falling to last place, period.
For the Heroes, shortstop Kim Whee-jip was double cast as a late-inning hero and a scapegoat.
Kim, batting cleanup for the first time this season, smoked a game-tying solo home run in the bottom eighth. But in the top ninth, Kim couldn't field a grounder cleanly to give up a go-ahead infield single and then committed an error to give the Giants an insurance run.
The game featured a marquee starting pitching matchup. The Heroes had their right-handed ace, An Woo-jin, who came in with a league-best 151 strikeouts and an excellent 2.48 ERA shortchanged by a 7-7 record. The Giants countered with left-hander Charlie Barnes, who has been a completely different pitcher in the second half than in the first. The American carried a 4.57 ERA in 16 starts before the All-Star break in July but had pitched to a 1.93 ERA with a 3-0 record in three starts in the second half coming into Tuesday.
The starters traded zeroes early while wiggling their way out of trouble.
An cleaned up his own mess in the top of the second inning. He loaded the bases with a pair of walks and a single, but retired the next two batters with a strikeout and a groundout.
Barnes didn't sweat as much to keep the Heroes off the board, though he did have to pitch around a couple of singles in the third inning.
The Giants broke the deadlock thanks to an error by Heroes center fielder Ronnie Dawson in the top of the sixth.
An got the hook after allowing a two-out single to Kim Min-seok. Instead of letting An face No. 8 hitter Roh Jin-hyuk, the Heroes summoned Lee Myeong-jong out of the bullpen to take over.
Roh greeted Lee with what appeared to be an innocuous single to right-center field, but Dawson let the ball skip under his glove and roll all the way to the warning track. Kim, who was running hard on contact at two outs, easily scored the game's first run.
The Heroes tried to rally right away in the bottom sixth but failed to cash in after loading the bases with a couple of singles and a hit-by-pitch from Barnes.
Barnes was lifted after hitting Kim Su-hwan to put three runners aboard, and reliever Kim Sang-su needed just one pitch to get Park Chan-hyeok to fly out to right field.
Dawson redeemed himself with his glove in the top eighth. With two men on at two outs, Dawson made a diving grab on a shallow fly to rob Park Seung-wook of a base hit that could have scored two more runs for the Giants.
The catch kept the Heroes within a run and set the stage for Kim Whee-jip's solo homer in the bottom eighth.
But those good vibes didn't last long.
With runners at first and third, An Chi-hong smacked a grounder up the middle toward Kim, who couldn't come up with the ball despite a diving attempt. It was scored as a run-scoring infield single.
The next batter, Yoon Dong-hee, hit a grounder right at Kim, who bobbled the ball and let it skip past him, as the Giants scored another run for a 3-1 lead.
That was enough cushion for closer Kim Won-jung, who retired the side in order for his 20th save of the season.
Neither starting pitcher got a decision.
An tied his season high with four walks but struck out six in 5 2/3 innings. He came into this game ranked last among 21 qualified starters with support of just 2.15 runs per game and got zero on Tuesday.
Barnes also went 5 2/3 innings, striking out seven and walking one while scattering five hits -- all of them singles -- to extend his outstanding second-half run. Barnes now has a 0.87 ERA in four starts against the Heroes this year.
Source: Yonhap News Agency