The first step that got twisted, the first win of the season for Barnes

Lotte lost both the opening series of the professional baseball regular season and the two consecutive games against the SSG Landers held at SSG Landers Field in Incheon from the 23rd to the 24th. It ended the season by losing two consecutive games in vain.

Aaron Wilkerson, who had been selected as the starting pitcher, gave up his chance to win the game on Sunday as he collapsed with six hits (two homers) and one walk, two strikeouts and four runs in five innings. The mistake he threw to Han Yu-seom and Choi Jeong went beyond the fence. The batters succeeded in targeting the SSG starting pitcher Kim Kwang-hyun to some extent, but failed to draw a score compared to the number of runners in each inning, losing 3-5.

The next day, starting pitcher Park Se-woong struggled hard by allowing five hits, two walks, four strikeouts and two runs in five innings. However, the batting lineup remained silent until the eighth inning, and Koo Seung-min, the must-win group, appeared to give up his win by dedicating three runs to Choi Jeong. However, with the bases loaded with no outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, Jeon Mir turned the inning around with three strikeouts, allowing only one run.

Later, in the top of the ninth inning, Ko Seung-min's three-run double and Reyes' two-run shot made a large number of six runs and succeeded in tying the game from 0-6 to 6-6. The joy was also briefly felt by Kim Won-joong, the closer who came up in the bottom of the ninth inning, who was hit by a walk-off home run by Herredia, and lost 6-7 in vain.

It is an unfamiliar game for Kim to win the opening series for two consecutive years. Since his managerial career with the Doosan Bears in 2015, his team has never lost all of its opening series games. After eight years as Doosan manager, his winning rate for the opening series reached 6808 percent (11 wins and five losses in 16 games). It may be a rather embarrassing start to the season for Kim, who secured at least one win in the opening series to solve the problem.

While Wilkerson and Park Se-woong were confident, they were constantly beaten by SSG's slugging power. Lotte's batters also had home runs by Kim Min-sung on Sunday and Reyes on Sunday, but overall performance was disappointing. He had 19 hits in two games, which was more than SSG's (18) but the result was a home run. As the cogs did not fit, he is facing a rather difficult start to the game.

Now, Lotte will move to Gwangju in a heavy mood and play three consecutive games against KIA from Friday through Sunday. Manager Kim Jong-guk had to go through the first-ever contract termination right before the departure of the spring camp due to allegations of misconduct, but he quickly settled the situation by appointing Lee Bum-ho. Kia is a team that is considered a strong candidate for the fifth place this year. 

Charlie Barnes, the third-year left-hander that Lotte saved, will take the mound. Barnes expressed his intention to raise children through his second childbirth this year, and built himself up through individual training without a spring camp. One of the leading players in last year's World Series championship, Jordan Montgomery, a big left-hander, and Barnes, a high school senior and junior player, arrived in Korea after training together throughout the winter. Barnes played in one exhibition game and practiced with the college team to adjust his senses. At an exhibition game against Samsung in Daegu on Friday, he pitched hard for 68 innings, two hits, two walks, seven strikeouts and no run. 

For Barnes, he needs to lead his team to its first win of this season and manager Kim Tae-hyung's first win of the Lotte Giants. Kia's starting pitcher, however, is its native ace Yang Hyeon-jong.

BY: 토토사이트