Samsung is scary. Reyes' weekend catch resumes

This is why Danny Reyes, who left the team due to back pain, can start training to catch up on the weekend. With the team's pitching and batting balance in sync recently, Samsung will return to the team and make a final spurt to catch up with the No. 1 KIA Tigers. 

Samsung won the Gocheok Kiwoom Heroes 9-5 on the 28th. Samsung, which has won six consecutive away games along with three consecutive wins, has maintained its second place in the league with 68 wins, two draws and 54 losses this season. The game gap with the third-place LG Twins, who lost on the same day, widened to three games. 

On the 27th, Samsung won a 1-0 victory against Kiwoom in Gocheok, thanks to starting pitcher Connor's scoreless shutout of 113 pitches and 11 strikeouts in 9 innings and Yoon Jung-bin's finishing hit. In the game on the 28th, seven bullpen pitchers continued to play in a relay despite the bad news of starting pitcher Lee Seung-min going down after three innings, maintaining a four-point lead until the end. On this day, Samsung's batters scored a large number of runs with 13 hits, six walks and nine runs, including home runs by Park Byung-ho and Koo Ja-wook. 

Oh Seung-hwan, who returned to the first team after a 10-day break, could have taken the mound as relief pitcher in the bottom of the fourth inning. Oh took the mound in the fourth inning for the third time since his debut. It was his first appearance in 6,909 days since he took the mound in the fourth inning against the SK Wyverns in Munhak on May 26, 2005 and the Hanwha Eagles in Daegu on September 28, 2005. Oh helped his team continue its lead by allowing no run in one inning, including two strikeouts. 

After the game on the 28th, Samsung manager Park Jin-man praised, "The entire bullpen struggled today as it progressed to bullpen day, but in particular, Lim Chang-min calmly pitched in a crisis at the end of the sixth inning to break the opponent's atmosphere." 

Coach Park then said, "Yesterday's victory was absolutely up to the pitchers, especially the starting pitchers, but today the team's batting lineup exploded from the beginning and was able to win the game. This pitching and batting balance is an absolute condition for a strong team and it is encouraging that it is often seen in our team this season." 

What's scarier is that Samsung is currently fighting for the lead in an effortless operation. Samsung's bench excluded Lewin Diaz, who was hit by a dune on his wrist on the 27th, from the starting lineup of the game on the 28th. Diaz expressed his will to play, but coach Park made him stand by as a pinch hitter in terms of management. Recently, the fielders also paid great attention to physical fitness through proper rest and designated hitter placement. 

Samsung has no choice but to change its starting rotation. Samsung was able to field Won and Connor in the upcoming two consecutive home games against KIA this weekend, but has already arranged the starting rotation to prevent them from overdoing it. Samsung's bench plans to place Lee Seung-min and Hwang Dong-jae on the starting mound in an away game against Gocheok during the week, and then place Baek and Won in a proper order in the weekend games. Connor, who achieved the shutout of 113 pitches, will take the starting mound against the Lotte Giants on September 3 after a week off.

Reyes, who left the team due to back injury, is also expected to return to the team. "Reyes' back is getting better little by little every day. The date of his return is undecided, but he will resume his catch training in Daegu this weekend," Park said. 

If Reyes can return to the team in early September, Samsung could threaten No. 1 Kia with the entire starting lineup for the rest of the game. As it still has four showdowns with Kia, it is not impossible to overturn the 5.5 game gap. Coach Park still hasn't given up on reversing his regular season title. 

"Our players have been doing really well these days. Our team's goal should always be to win the title. We need to focus as much as possible not only on the weekend's match against KIA but also on other games as we can. We have more than 20 games to go, and if we lose consecutive games, the mood changes every moment, so we can't let our guard down," Park said. 

I wonder if Samsung, whose pitching and batting balance has recently reached its peak, will be able to chase the No. 1 KIA hard and catch the tiger's tail and aim for a last-minute turnaround.

BY: 안전놀이터