A starting showdown between foreigners in crisis in this important second-place fight? Davidson vs Hernandez, who will survive?
Jul 01, 2025
|
|
LG ranks second with 44 wins, two draws and 33 losses, while Lotte ranks third with 43 wins, three draws and 34 losses. The two are one game apart. LG is ahead of the other two this season with 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. In the opening two consecutive games, LG won two consecutive games, and in the three consecutive games in Busan on May 20-22, the second meeting, it had one win, one draw, and one loss.
If Lotte sweeps this time, it will completely beat LG to the second place, and if it takes a winning series with 2 wins and 1 loss, it will be tied for second place. LG, which was in a fierce battle with Hanwha for the first place, has to focus on the second place fight with Lotte. If you win or higher in the match against Lotte, you will be able to keep second place and naturally continue to compete with Hanwha for first place.
LG Hernandez, Lim Chan-kyu, Son Joo-young, and Lotte Matt Davidson, Alec Gamboa and Lee Min-seok are expected to face off as starters in this three-game series.
First of all, the first game is important. You have to catch your first game to aim for more than winning.
Davison is a left-handed pitcher with 6-4 record with a 3.67 ERA in 16 games this season. The quality start was nine times. The hit rate is 261 and the on-base allowance per inning (WHIP) is 1.39. This is the first game against LG.
Until May, he showed a very good pace with 6 wins and 1 loss and 2.45 ERA, but in June, he recorded only three losses without winning four games and his ERA was very poor with 7.71. Since his worst pitching of nine runs in three ⅔ against Kiwoom in Busan on June 5, all three appearances have exceeded five innings and were not so bad by allowing three runs each, but his pitching until May has been so stable that his regret has grown.
Hernandez is also on the mound in the midst of a crisis. He has not been able to pitch as expected and is being replaced early. In the first two games after returning from injury, he allowed one run in six innings (non-earned) and one run in six ⅓ innings, but he only allowed three runs in four ⅔ against SSG on June 11 and was sent off with a head shot in the top of the second inning against NC on the 17th. In the game against Doosan on the 21st, he was replaced early with four runs in four innings. After returning from injury, he recorded 1-1 with a 3.68 ERA in five games, which doesn't seem bad just with his simple performance, but he hasn't been able to show the expected second start of foreigners. The game against Lotte will be his first appearance this season.
|
|
Park Chan-hyung hit .60 (6 hits in 10 at-bats), Ko Seung-min 333 (7 hits in 21 at-bats), Jeon Jun-woo 333 (7 hits in 21 at-bats), and Reyes 278 (5 hits in 18 at-bats).
LG's team batting average in five games was 266 (46 hits in 173 times at bat). He also scored 3.6 points per game. Kim Hyun-soo showed good batting performance with 412 (7 hits in 17 at-bats), Park Hae-min 375 (5 hits in 16 at-bats), Moon Sung-joo 368 (7 hits in 19 at-bats), Park Dong-won 353 (6 hits in 17 at-bats), and Shin Min-jae 304 (7 hits in 23 at-bats).
When Oh Ji-hwan returned against KIA on June 29, LG became the entire team except for Hong Chang-ki, who was out for the season due to a knee injury. Ham Deok-joo returned to the mound, and all pitchers who could come except for Kim Kang-ryul were back. In fact, it can be said that LG's current power is the highest. If the team does well in the last-minute first-place fight with this power, the atmosphere will revive, but if it is pushed back, the atmosphere may fall to the bottom. This is why the three consecutive games against Lotte, the start of the last nine games in the first half, are important.
On the other hand, Lotte overcame the crisis and entered the No. 1 battle again with the emergence of new stars that prevented their absence despite the absence of key players such as Son Ho-young, Yoon Dong-hee and Hwang Sung-bin. Lotte's early momentum is more important as it meets KIA on the weekend following the LG match.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
