“Lions’ Lee Byung-heon and Kim Jae-sang played key roles”
Samsung Lions manager Park Jin-man expresses his joy after the win.
Samsung won 11-6 against the Kiwoom Heroes in the Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League 2024 at Gocheok Sky Dome on Monday. The team’s season record is now 18 wins, one draw and 12 losses. They also took a 3-2 series lead over Kiwoom this season.
It was the first series sweep against the Heroes in 3626 days. Samsung had previously swept Nexen (now Kiwoom) from May 23-25, 2014, at the Daegu Citizens Stadium.
On that day, the Gocheok third base bleachers were filled with Samsung fans. After the game, Park Jin-man first thanked the fans. “I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the fans who filled the third base side and showed the blue wave throughout the game,” Park said.
The game was highlighted by a strong performance from starting pitcher Denny Reyes. He went six innings, allowing two runs on five hits and one walk while striking out seven. It was his sixth straight quality start (six starts with three earned runs or less). With plenty of offensive support from the offense, Reyes picked up four wins (2-2).
“After struggling in the first inning, Reyes was able to set the tone for the victory by holding the game to a minimum through the sixth inning,” Park said, giving Reyes a thumbs-up.
The offense also came together to chase Keum off the mound. With the score tied 2-2 in the fourth inning, they scored four runs to decide the game early. With no outs and runners on first and second, Kim Sung-yoon’s RBI single to right field gave Samsung the lead. Kim Jae-sang and Kim Ji-chan followed with RBI singles to score two more runs.
In the fifth inning, Samsung had another big inning. With runners on first and second, Lee Byung-heon and Kim Jae-sang hit back-to-back singles to score two runs. After 사설토토 Kim Ji-chan drew a walk to load the bases again, Samsung added two more runs on Lee Jae-hyun’s RBI single to right and McKinnon’s push single.
Head coach Park Jin-man singled out Lee Byung-heon and Kim Jae-sang. Lee went 2-for-4 with two doubles, one walk, two RBIs and one run scored, while Kim Jae-sang went 2-for-5 with two doubles, three RBIs and two runs scored.
“Our young hitters, Lee Byung-heon and Kim Jae-sang, who are going to be the ones to carry the Lions in the future, were able to get us the RBIs we needed in key situations, which allowed the game to go our way and made it easier on our starting pitchers,” Park said.