The ball dropped in front of the fence. The two outfielders exchanged confused glances.
Lotte Giants’ Jeon Jun-woo reached 1,700 hits in his career. Jun-woo Jeon reached the milestone in a rather embarrassing way.
Lotte was playing the seventh game of the season against the KIA Tigers at Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 3rd.
In his first at-bat, Jun-woo hit a well-pitched pitch but could only manage a fly ball to left field. In the fourth inning, he flied out to second base. Lotte was held scoreless by KIA starter Medina until the fifth inning.
The surprise came in the sixth inning, when KIA took a 3-0 lead. Jeon Jun-woo hit Medina’s sixth pitch, a 141-kilometre two-seamer, deep to left-centre field.안전놀이터
KIA had earlier moved Lee Woo-sung to left field and Socrates to right field to bolster their defence and inserted Kim Ho-ryung in the middle infield. Kim Ho-ryung and Lee Woo-sung followed the balls. They had plenty of time.
Here, Kim Ho-ryung stood looking at Lee Woo-sung, thinking he would catch it. On the other hand, Lee unintentionally missed the direction of the ball. As a result, the ball landed in the outfield grass between the two men for a double.
Medina, who was watching, was visibly disappointed. The KIA bench decided to make an early change when Medina gave up a single to the next batter, Ahn Chi-hong.
Before the game, KIA manager Kim Jong-guk said, “Medina’s last two games have been good. When he was in the U.S., he went fast with his two-seam and changeup, but I hope he can control his delivery well and take away the hitters’ timing. He’s getting better and better.”
But Medina’s unearned run on the day was ruined by an unassisted fielding error. After five innings, four hits, four walks and 103 pitches, Medina was removed from the game. With runners on base, the bullpen’s performance could have cost them the game. It was an embarrassing moment, but Jeon collected his 1700th hit.
In the next two at-bats, Lotte scored two runs on an RBI double by Yoo Kang-nam and an RBI single by Chung Hoon to make it 4-3. Medina’s victory was blown.