‘Baseball prodigy’ Lee Jung-hoo, angry at himself for going 4-for-4 with no hits and an error…a stony expression on his face
‘It’s really not working out…’ Neither his fastball nor his changeup were timed correctly. After going hitless in four at-bats, captain Lee Jeong-hoo’s expression turned cold after the game.
Kiwoom was in eighth place, 3.5 games behind fourth-placed NC and Doosan. They had shared the last two games with bottom of the league KT. Captain Lee Jung-hoo started in the leadoff spot on the final day of the three-game series, hoping for a sweep, but came up short at the plate.
After going 0-for-2 with one RBI on the first day and 4-for-2 with one RBI on the second day, Lee seemed to be finding his groove at the plate, but he went 0-for-4 on the final day with the series on the line.먹튀검증
The leadoff hitter failed to reach first base in the first inning as he was blocked by KT’s starting pitching staff. In his first at-bat, a full-count, eight-pitch at-bat in the first inning, Lee lost his timing on a 130km change-up and lined it into plain left field.
In his second at-bat, the bases were loaded in the third inning. Lee swung at a 143km fastball on the third pitch of the at-bat, 1B 1S, but missed and grounded out to second base. KT starter Uhm Sang-baek’s change-up and fastball hit Ki Uhm twice. With one last chance for revenge in the 6th inning, 0B 2S unfavourable count, Kim pulled on a 147km fastball, but couldn’t get it past first baseman Park Byung-ho and was out in all three at-bats.
KT’s starting pitcher, Uhm Sang-baek, has been dominant against Kiwoom Lee Jung-hoo. He continued his strong form against Lee, holding him to a .200 batting average with five hits, one walk, one strikeout, and only one hit in the game.
In his final at-bat, in the eighth inning, he hit a 128km change-up from reliever KT Park Young-hyun, but this time it was blocked by first baseman Park Byung-ho’s glove, and Lee ended the game without ever reaching first base.
Lee had been in a batting slump since the start of the season, hitting .218 with 19 doubles, three home runs and 13 RBIs in April, but was slowly getting back into form in May. After batting .286 with 24 hits and eight RBIs in May, his batting stalled again this week, going 2-for-10 in KT’s three-game series.
After batting .342 (13-for-38) with three home runs, seven RBIs, one double, five walks and two strikeouts in his last 10 games, his batting average dropped to .297 after today’s game.
As Lee’s bat didn’t work as he had hoped, his defence faltered as well. In the top of the second inning, KT Park Kyung-soo hit a ball to the outfield. It was a routine fly to left fielder Im Ji-yeol and centre fielder Lee Jung-hoo, who had defensive priority, raised his hand and signalled for the catch. Just before the catch, Lee looked at left fielder Lim Ji-yeol, and the ball fell between them for a hit.
The play was not recorded as an error, but it was uncharacteristic of Lee. Later, KT’s Lee Ho-yeon hit an infield single, and the poor defence eventually led to a run.
Kiwoom lost 3-0. Captain Lee Jung-hoo left the field with a determined look on his face.