The 1st starter quenched my thirst! 99 pitches, 155km of Gamboa, 7 scoreless innings → Reyes No. 7 Fire Bat...Lotte escapes back-to-back losses after catching Kiwoom

Jun 03, 2025

photo courtesy of Lotte Giants

Lotte Giants won a cool victory for the first time in a long time. Gamboa's overwhelming pitching was brilliant.

Lotte won the first game of the Weekday Series against the Kiwoom Heroes 8-0 at Sajik Stadium in Busan on the 3rd.

With the victory, Lotte won its 32nd game (25 losses and 3 draws) this season to rank third, while keeping pace with its pursuit of the No. 1 LG Twins and No. 2 Hanwha Eagles. He quickly escaped his nightmare of repeatedly losing to SSG Landers over the weekend.

On the other hand, Kiwoom at the bottom seems to be falling deeper into the quagmire as it lost for the 45th time (16 wins and 1 draw). The joy of winning back-to-back games in two consecutive games against the Doosan Bears ended in '2'.

Lotte was in the lineup of Jang Doo-sung (center fielder), Ko Seung-min (second base), Reyes (left wing), Jeon Joon-woo (designated hitter), Yoon Dong-hee (right wing), Jeon Min-jae (striker), Son Ho-young (third base), Yoo Kang-nam (catcher) and Jung-hoon (first base). Let's start with Gamboa.

photo courtesy of Lotte Giants

Kiwoom faced off with Song Sung-moon (designated hitter), Choi Joo-hwan (first base), Lim Ji-yeol (right wing), Kim Gun-hee (catcher), Lee Hyung-jong (left wing), Oh Sun-jin (third base), Song Ji-hoo (second base), Eo Jun-seo (striker) and Park Soo-jong (midfielder). Kim Yeon-joo, a rookie in her second year, was selected.

Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung, who met before the game, registered veteran Jung Hoon in the position of Na Seung-yeop, who was canceled the previous day. "There is no first baseman in the second division right now, and it is a way for Ko Seung-min to go to first base and use another player at second base, but I try not to touch Ko Seung-min's position if possible," he explained. As for Na Seung-yeop's long slump, "I can't catch the timing itself. I think it would be better to prepare to return to the good old form in the second division."

Kiwoom manager Hong Won-ki said of Cardinez's injury cancellation, `It is a process of cross-checking through precise examination. It is still undecided whether to put him on the long-term injured list. Still, while expressing satisfaction with Alcantara's good pitching, he also confirmed a change in the bullpen, which uses Joo Seung-woo as a must-win group and Won Jong-hyun as a closer.

photo courtesy of Lotte Giants

On this day, all 22,669 tickets were sold at Sajik Stadium. It has been sold out for 17 consecutive games since the match against the Hanwha Eagles on April 24. Of the 30 regular season games held in Sajik this year, 21 were sold out. Reservation tickets are often sold out busy opening up, and 220 on-site sales sold after checking ID cards for the digital underprivileged are quickly sold out.

Lotte's massive score in the first inning and starter Gamboa's stormy good pitching gave the game its edge. Gamboa celebrated her first Korean debut with brilliant pitching in front of her family who visited the site.

Lotte scored the first run in the bottom of the first inning with Ko Seung-min's RBI double following leadoff Jang Doo-sung's walk on base. Reyes then hit his seventh two-run shot of the season over the right-center fence, and added one more point as Kiwoom pitcher Kim Yeon-joo's throwing error overlapped when Jeon Min-jae grounded out to the pitcher.

However, he missed the chance to completely finish the game. The first and second bases with no outs continued at 4-0, but Son Ho-young's double play cut the flow.

photo courtesy of Lotte Giants

However, Gamboa, who took the mound for the second time after going to Korea on the day, literally showed her life pitching. Until the seventh inning, Kiwoom's batters were tied up with just two hits and one walk. Six strikeouts are a bonus.

On this day, Gamboa's fastball reached a maximum of 155km and an average of 151km. The top and bottom movements of up to 2,447 rotations per minute and up to 53cm were also brilliant. His bright and confident expression was also noticeable throughout. Until the seventh inning, he faced a total of 24 batters, and the number of pitches was 99. The last 99th fastball remained strong enough to reach 155km.

In particular, the bending movement, which was a problem in the match against the Samsung Lions, which was their debut on May 27, was completely eliminated. The release point, which falls from overwhelming heights, remained the same. In the second inning, Lee Hyung-jong and Oh Sun-jin were allowed consecutive hits, and there was a crisis with two outs and runners on the second and third bases, but they completely overwhelmed Kiwoom's batters after finishing without losing a point.

photo courtesy of Lotte Giants

Kiwoom starter Kim Yeon-joo also did well considering that she is a rookie in her second year of debut this year. After four runs in the first inning, he pitched hard without additional runs until the fifth inning.

Kiwoom continued its fight with Lee Kang-joon in the sixth inning and Oh Seok-joo in the seventh inning. However, Lotte added two more runs against Oh Seok-joo in the bottom of the seventh inning to seal the victory.

This time again, Jang Doo-sung's walk was on base. Reyes' third hit, Jeon Jun-woo's walk gave him a chance to load the bases with one out. Yoon Dong-hee's sacrifice fly and Jeon Min-jae's RBI timely hit continued to widen the gap to 6-0.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Lotte added two more runs, followed by Reyes' pushing walk and Jeon Joon-woo's RBI timely hit with one out and a bases loaded with consecutive hits by Yoo Kang-nam's Jung-hoon and Jang Doo-sung's walk.

Following Gamboa, Lotte finished the game neatly without losing a point with Kim Sang-soo (⅓ innings), Chung Hyun-soo (⅔ innings) and Park Jin (one inning).