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| Coach Lee Kang-chul is bending his head toward the player after KT beat KIA 3-1. Photo = Reporter Jeong Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com |
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Why did director Lee Kang-chul do that?
Coach Lee Kang-chul's appearance after the match between the KIA Tigers and the KT Wiz at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on the 21st caught the eye. The story goes back to the beginning of the fifth inning.
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| In the top of the fifth inning, manager Lee Kang-chul visited the mound at Han Jun-su's at-bat with two outs and runners on the second and third bases. |
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Han Jun-su's at-bat with two outs and runners on second and third in the top of the fifth inning when he was chased 2-1. Manager Lee Kang-chul visited the mound. Director Lee suggested 'Why don't we skip Han Jun-su since the first base is empty?' This is because Han Jun-su showed a strong performance with three hits in six at-bats against Ko Young-pyo before the game. On the same day, he bullied Ko Young-pyo by walking in his first at-bat in the second inning and hitting a heavy hit in the second at-bat in the fourth inning.
However, Ko Young-pyo-Jang Sung-woo's battery shook his head and conveyed the opinion that `Han Jun-su cannot be easily sent out.' Then coach Lee also readily collected his argument and came down the mound.
Regarding the situation at the time, Ko Young-pyo said in a post-match interview that "Our battery asked us to go hard." He got a hit, but he decided he could try. Even if he walks, I thought so because Kim Ho-ryeong is not that bad", he explained.
What was the outcome of the battery's choice to reject the director's opinion?
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| Han Junsu's bat turned strong. It is a moment when director Lee Kang-chul's heart is strong. |
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Ko Young-pyo, who had a hard time winning the game, was driven to a ball count of 3-1, and Han Jun-su pulled the body's fastball that he threw for the fifth pitch as if he was waiting. The training ball flew above the first base foul line, surprising the KT bench. Fortunately, first baseman Moon Sang-chul, who was defending against the line, jumped and caught the ball, ending the situation.
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| Coach Je Chun-mo who sweeps his chest. Director Lee's appearance may have been no different. |
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The expressions of Han Jun-su, who was disappointed while bending his waist, and the KT bench, who swept his chest, were sharply different. As a result, the choice of Ko Young-pyo-Jang Sung-woo battery was correct.
It was a decisive moment to break KIA's will to chase. After overcoming this crisis, Ko Young-pyo kept the mound until the seventh inning and pitched well with only one run. The number of pitches was only 94. KT won 3-1 with Son Dong-hyun and Park Young-hyun blocking one scoreless inning each. Ko Young-pyo won for the first time in five games since the match against Kiwoom in Gocheok on the 20th of last month, winning three games (4 losses) of the season.
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| The moment the leadership of the head coach bowed to the player shone |
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Coach Lee Kang-chul's behavior on the ground after the victory was different from usual. He bowed politely to catcher Jang Sung-woo who was coming in from the front and thanked him. Coach Kim Tae-han and Lee Jong-beom, who were watching from behind, were surprisingly unconventional.
The respect and appreciation shown by the head coach toward the player who gave the opinion of 'Let's go'Rejected' It was a moment to get a glimpse of the respected leadership of coach Lee Kang-chul, who leads the strong KT Wiz silently every season.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
