“Wouldn’t it be possible to see the leaderboard from Tuesday?”
Yang Seok-hwan of the Doosan Bears was first baseman and 5th in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League Lotte Giants season 8 away match held at Munsu Baseball Stadium in Ulsan on the 2nd. Starting as a batter, he played an active role with 1 hit in 5 at-bats (1 home run), 2 RBIs and 1 run.스포츠토토
Head coach Lee Seung-yeop declared an ‘all-out war’ with 15 games left before the All-Star break. And on the 30th of last month, prior to the Ulsan Lotte match, he made it clear once again. He said that the bench intervention during the game could increase, and that bullpen pitchers would wait for three consecutive fights. It was because the win rate in April and May was more than 50%, but the win-loss margin in June fell to ‘minus’.
He declared an all-out war, but the ‘core’ was offensive power. Doosan was not the only one to worry about due to the stagnant offensive power from the beginning of the season. The biggest driving force that has been able to keep the mid-level position so far has been the power of the mound. In the two consecutive matches against Lotte that started on the 30th of last month, Doosan’s total score was only 2 points. In order to decorate the weekend’s three-game series with a winning series, the other line’s performance was desperately needed, and Yang Seok-hwan responded.
Yang Seok-hwan, who started as the lead batter, retreated with a fly ball from center fielder in the first at-bat in the top of the second inning, and a straight hit from third baseman in the second at-bat with one out and first base in the top of the fourth inning when the score was tight 0-0. And in the 6th inning, he once again became the lead batter and recorded a fly ball to left field and was silent. Then, in the fourth at-bat, Yang Seok-hwan’s bat woke up.
Yang Seok-hwan faced Lotte’s ‘Pil Seung-jo’ Seung-min Koo at the first base out of the box in the top of the 8th inning, where the score was tight 2-2. And Yang Seok-hwan pulled the ball with all his might and went straight toward the wall in the middle left, leading to his 12th home run of the season. With one shot to break the tense flow, Doosan won 4-2 with Yang Seok-hwan’s home run.
After the game, Yang Seok-hwan returned to the dugout with warm support from the fans who came to Ulsan. He said, “I am so grateful to the fans who came to the far distance and supported me. Still, it feels good to be able to move after the winning series.” It feels good to hit a home run that goes in the direction I can win at bat,” he said with a hearty smile.
The typical pitches that come to mind when thinking of Lotte’s Seung-min Koo are the fastball and the forkball. However, Yang Seok-hwan attacked the slider and sent the ball over the fence. He said, “Analysis is that players who don’t throw changeups to right-handed hitters tend to throw a lot of changeups to me. It seems,” he explained the home run situation.
Recently, Yang Seok-hwan’s personal flow isn’t too bad. However, he felt a lot of responsibility for his stagnant offensive power as a center hitter. Yang Seok-hwan said, “It is true that things do not work out well, so it is true that I have to take responsibility as a center hitter. The pitchers continue to throw well, and as a player who hits the center, I want to say ‘I’m sorry’ to the pitchers.” I’m sorry, and (Kim) Myung-shin also blocked about 4 innings for two days, and I want to say ‘Thank you for working hard even though it was hot’.”
Yang Seok-hwan’s home run this season tends to lead to Doosan’s victory. On the day Yang Seok-hwan hit a home run, Doosan recorded 10 wins and 1 loss. Director Lee Seung-yeop was more delighted than Yang Seok-hwan when he hit a home run, and showed a ‘heart ceremony’. Yang Seok-hwan said, “Personally, the worse it goes, the more I want to raise the atmosphere by holding a team ceremony, but I don’t have that much influence yet.” They say, ‘I have to hit a lot of home runs in the future’, but I hope there will be more home runs in the future.”
Coach Lee Seung-yeop said in an interview with reporters prior to the game, “I won’t look at the leaderboard until it’s 50%.” And the gap with 4th place Lotte was also reduced to 1 game, and the 5th place was also regained. Yang Seok-hwan asked back, “Isn’t there one left?” and laughed broadly, saying, “I think you’ll be able to see it starting on Tuesday (4th).”
The important game was finished with a winning series, but it is a stage where you can never be relieved as the current middle-ranking fight is so fierce. Yang Seok-hwan said, “It’s right to start recovering from 50%. It’s close when you look down, but it’s close when you look up, so (Heo) Kyung-min hyung, (Yang) Eui-ji hyung, and (Kim) Jae-hwan hyung said, ‘Let’s look up rather than down. ‘, he said a lot,” and said, “I will continue to look up and go.”