Baseball’s NC Dinos Lee Jae-hak had the chance to stop the losing streak. But a stuttering NC offense couldn’t support Lee’s struggles.
Lee Jae-hak started the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League regular season game against the SSG Landers at NC Park in Changwon on Wednesday and pitched 6⅓ innings, allowing one run on three hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. It was his fifth quality start of the season.
However, the bats left 12 runners on base, falling to 0-2 and snapping a six-game losing streak. Lee battled back with 39 four-seam fastballs, 47 changeups, and 10 cutters that topped out at 146 mph. But the offense squandered his chances time and time again.
The first through third innings were perfect. He retired nine batters in a row. In between, the offense faltered, stranding runners in scoring position with one out in the first inning and runners on first and second in the second. Finally, in the fourth inning, Lee Jae-hak gave up a run.
Choi Ji-hoon, the leadoff hitter in the fourth inning, hit a double over the center field fence.
It was the first hit of the game. Choo Shin-soo followed with a sacrifice bunt to put runners on first and third. Choi then struck out to end the inning, but Heredia gave up a single to right field. Lee Jae-hak was left stranded. But he didn’t falter and struck out Han Yu-seom to end the fourth inning.
In the fifth, he struck out the leadoff batter, Park Sung-han, and then gave up a double to left-center to Jung Jun-jae. However, he got Lee Ji-young to ground out to third base. In the meantime, Jeong advanced to third base. 파워볼실시간 With runners on second and third, Jeon Ui-san walked to put runners on second and third. However, Choi Ji-hoon grounded out to shortstop to end the threat.
In the sixth, Choo Shin-soo and Choi Choi hit back-to-back grounders to center field and Heredia fouled out to first base to complete the quality start.
In the seventh inning,
Lee Jae-hak took the mound and got the first batter, Han Yoo-seom, to fly out to shortstop. He then gave up a walk to Park Sung-han. Pitching coach Kim Soo-kyung then visited the mound. Lee was frustrated, but he did his part, as Ryu Jin-wook came on and got two outs without allowing an earned run.
Ace Kyle Hart left the game with severe body aches. New foreign pitcher Eric Yokishi still needs time to find his groove. Alternate starter Mok Ji-hoon is also realizing his limitations. With Shin Min-hyuk in the starting rotation, Lee Jae-hak’s role was also crucial, and he pitched like a man possessed after only lasting two innings in the previous two games.
However, despite Lee’s efforts, the offense was helpless after missing opportunities in the first and second innings. In the fifth inning, they had the bases loaded with two outs, and in the sixth inning, they had the bases loaded with two outs, but both were scoreless.
In the end, NC faced its sixth consecutive loss in a row, although the team was still hopeful due to its overwhelming head-to-head advantage (9-1), but the momentum of the recent losses was stronger. Even Lee Jae-hak couldn’t be the streak stopper.