Do we really have to trust “the one and only God”? The idea of the LG Twins’ bullpen pitcher lineup is faltering.
LG suffered a crushing defeat of 4-10 in the first playoff game held at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on Sunday. LG, which was engaged in blood clots in Game 5 of the semi-playoff, lost the chance to advance to the Korean Series, narrowing the gap between the two teams. In the best-of-five playoff series, the probability that the team that wins Game 1 will advance to the Korean Series was 75.7 percent (25 out of 33).
On the day, LG Twins’ starting pitcher Choi Won-tae collapsed. He collapsed by allowing seven hits (two homers), three strikeouts and five runs in three innings. When Choi went down the mound, the score was 1-5. Although the gap was four points, the game had just entered the middle of the game, and the game was over for a short period of time in the postseason.
The LG Twins deployed Yoo Young-chan, the closing pitcher for the regular season. Yoo treated his first batter Lee Jae-hyun with a foul fly and gave up an infield hit to Ryu Ji-hyuk, but overcame the crisis by using a double play by shortstop.
In the fifth inning, another team led by Kim Jin-seong, a two-run homerun, was deployed. However, Kim Jin-seong only had one out count, allowing Diaz to hit two-run homeruns. The gap widened to 1-7. LG used all of its de facto winning teams. Only one player, Elleage Hernandez, who showed off his fighting spirit by taking the mound in all five semi-playoffs, did not appear. Since then, he has deployed all of his bullpen pitchers, including Jung Woo-young, Kim Yoo-young, Baek Seung-hyeon, Lee Jong-joon and Kim Dae-hyun, but the final score was 4-10.
In five semi-playoff games, LG effectively managed the bullpen with Son Ju-young, the left-hander who led the team to victory in two games by playing Hernandez and Long Relief. Hernandez pitched in all five games and played seven ⅓ innings, while Son pitched in a total of seven ⅓ innings, including five ⅓ innings in Game 3 and two innings in Game 5. In the semi-playoff games, the bullpen played a total of 24 innings, with the two players responsible for more than half of the 14 ⅔ innings. The team accounted for more than 61 percent of the total.
However, in the playoffs, we cannot blindly depend on Hernandez and Son Joo-young. For now, Son will be the starting pitcher in the playoffs. Manager Yeom Kyung-yeop predicted Son as the starting pitcher for Game 3.
And Hernandez is tired for now. “The key point in running a pitcher in this series is not only starting a pitcher, but also whether the existing middle pitchers will play the role of Hernandez and (Son) Ju-young will be important,” Yeom said ahead of the first game. “Yoo Young-chan can pitch two innings like he did in last year’s 슬롯사이트 Series. Kim Jin-sung can pitch two innings as well. Two players can play multiple innings, and the rest of the players try to lead one inning at a maximum. We will make the most of our resources such as Baek Seung-hyeon and Kim Yoo-young to put in the possibility of blocking them.”
“He can have five out-counts in the back and one out in the eighth inning,” he said. “Only one player, Elly, is tired during the semi-playoff. Existing middle pitchers have had a good rest. They must feel like they are starting the post-season. Their role will be important.”
However, other bullpen pitchers except Hernandez did not leave a strong impression in the first round game of the playoffs. This is the management of the bullpen, which cannot afford to watch Hernandez until any time. It is time for LG’s bullpen to make efforts.