When LG Baseball manager Yoon Kyung-yeop was planning his batting order for this season, he had two so-called “bombs” in the seventh and eighth spots. Lee Jae-won and Park Dong-won (pictured), whose batting averages are down but who can still hit a home run here and there.
Lee Jae-won was in and out of the starting lineup last year, hitting 13 home runs and posting a home run per at-bat rate of 0.06, well above the league average of 0.02. Park Dong-won finished the season with the KIA last year and hit 17 home runs, good for 0.05 home runs per at-bat. Both fell short of last year’s home run leader (35), Park Byung-ho (KT), in terms of home runs per at-bat (0.08), but were among the league’s top home run producers.
LG’s bottom half of the batting order has been a little different from what Yeom sketched out. This is because Lee Jae-won hasn’t been able to play consistently due to frequent injuries. Yeom had to break the news of Lee Jae-won’s injury even before the SSG game against Munhak on the 25th. “I think it will be difficult for him to play for about two to 20 days due to 먹튀검증micro-injuries in the injury area,” he said, referring to Lee Jae-won, who was substituted midway through the SSG game the previous day due to discomfort in his left thigh.
Lee Jae-won also suffered a side injury prior to the start of the season that kept him out of the regular season. He only joined the first team on May 7 and was just starting to pick up the pace when he was injured again.
Still, LG is not without depth in the bottom of the order. Park Dong-won has been hitting a pair of home runs. Park went 3-for-4 with two home runs and four RBIs on the day that Lee Jae-won was again left out of the first team lineup. Park’s 11th and 12th home runs of the season gave him a commanding lead in the home run category.
Both were for extra bases. Playing as the No. 7 hitter and catcher, Park took a 146-kilometer fastball from SSG starter Song Young-jin for a three-run homer to left-center field with runners on second and third in the top of the first inning for a 2-0 lead, then came up to bat in the bottom of the eighth inning, trailing 6-3, and crushed a 140-kilometer slider from Moon Seung-won for a 120-meter solo home run to end SSG’s hopes of a comeback. With the 8-3 win, LG pushed SSG out of second place and back into sole possession of first place.
LG starter Casey Geli showed some jitters in the second inning when she gave up three runs, including a two-run homer to Han Yoo-seom in the 6-0 lead, but she expertly kept the runs at bay. She allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits in six innings to improve to 5-2 on the season.
In Sajik, Lotte pounded out 11 hits, including a five-run third inning, to beat NC 11-1 behind a seven-hit shutout from starter Park Se-woong. KT also won its second straight at home, beating Kiwoom 3-0 behind a strong performance from starter Uhm Sang-baek, who pitched six innings of four-hit ball. In Jamsil, Doosan beat Samseong 4-3 in extra innings thanks to Kim Jae-ho’s game-winning hit in the bottom of the 11th. In Daejeon, Hanwha held off KIA 4-3.