Choi Wontae, who is left alone, pitched 3 scoreless innings! I pressed the Yomiuri Hitting Line... Samsung saw hope despite upset loss [Okinawa Field Review]

*This content was translated by AI.

The Samsung Lions fought an equal battle against the Japanese Professional Baseball (NPB) Yomiuri Giants in the early stages even though the mound collapsed due to a series of injuries.

Samsung lost 2-4 in a practice game against the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) Yomiuri Giants at Cellular Stadium in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan on the 28th.

The game lasted until the 11th inning. Instead, after the ninth inning, only Samsung was attacking without attacking the Yomiuri Giants. Yomiuri was scheduled to check the number of pitchers' pitches in a practice game against the Hanwha Eagles the previous day (27th). However, as the Hanwha match was canceled due to heavy rain, he asked Samsung for understanding and played two more innings. Samsung was also able to gain the experience of batters against NPB pitchers, so it was conducted under an agreement.

Starting pitcher Choi Won-tae's good pitching was encouraging. Before the game, Samsung manager Park Jin-man announced the surgery and replacement of foreign pitcher Matt Manning, who recently complained of elbow pain. Choi Won-tae was the only starting pitcher who could throw during the exhibition game as ace Ariel Furado played in the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) as the Panama national team, and Won Tae-in and Manning were also injured.

Choi Won-tae, who remained alone, pitched three innings (44 pitches) with three hits, no outs, and two strikeouts against the Yomiuri hitting line. He confidently put in a maximum fastball of 145 kilometers per hour, increasing the out count. Lee Seung-min (13 pitches), who is receiving the best reviews in the spring camp, also proved his favorable reviews by blocking the Yomiuri clean-up, which included two foreigners, with one strikeout and no run.

Bae Chan-seung's continued slump and unbroken lineup were regrettable. Bae Chan-seung became a losing pitcher with two hits and two runs (one earned run) without striking out during one inning. The batters were tied to the Yomiuri mound with both one-two punches and only one hit in nine regular innings. He was prepared for the Yomiuri lineup, which had a total of 10 hits. It was comforting that Kim Sung-yoon scored the first run with consecutive ground balls after his walk on base, and Shim Jae-hoon and Jeon Byung-woo scored another run with consecutive hits in the extra inning.

Meanwhile, before the game, former coach Lee Seung-yeop, a KBO legend and current Yomiuri's first-team batting coach, met with his former team Samsung players and shared their updates. Coach Lee Seung-yeop, who voluntarily stepped down as manager of the Doosan Bears last year, has been the hitting coach for the Yomiuri first team since this season at the recommendation of his colleague Shinnosuke Abe.

On this day, Samsung consisted of Kim Ji-chan (center fielder), Kim Sung-yoon (right wing), Ryu Ji-hyuk (second baseman), Lewin Diaz (first baseman), Kim Young-woong (third baseman), Kang Min-ho (designated hitter), Lee Sung-kyu (left wing), Park Se-hyuk (catcher), and Lee Jae-hyun (striker). The starting pitcher is Choi Won-tae.

Against this, Yomiuri formed a lineup of Urata Shunsuke (second baseman), Matsumoto Ko (center fielder), Yuta Izuguchi (striker), Trey Kebeji (designated hitter), Bobby Dalbec (first baseman), Hayato Sakamoto (third baseman), Yukinori Kishida (possession), Kakuto Minagawa (right fielder) and Shunsuke Sasaki (left fielder). The starting pitcher is Shosei Dogo.

Choi Won-tae overwhelmed the Yomiuri lineup in the beginning. He caught the out count by inserting a 145km/h fastball accurately into his body. After turning Urata and Matsumoto with a fly ball in the bottom of the first inning, he struck out Izuguchi swinging.

He drew a swing and miss against the Major League sluggers. Choi Won-tae boldly caught a strike with his fastball to right field fly ball and Dalbec after a foul hit by Kebezi in the second inning, and struck out swinging. Sakamoto got his first hit, but he handled Kishida with a fly ball to right field.

Samsung's first hit came with two outs in the third inning. Lee Jae-hyun singled second pitcher Iori Yamazaki's ball over the third baseman's height and hit to the left. However, Kim Ji-chan failed to score as he grounded out to third base.

Samsung was the first to open the door. Ryu Ji-hyuk and Diaz called home with consecutive ground balls as leadoff batter Kim Sung-yoon walked to get on base.

The Samsung mound, which Choi Won-tae gave up three scoreless innings and Lee Seung-min gave up one scoreless inning, was shaken greatly as Bae Chan-seung took the mound. Bae Chan-seung, who took the mound in the fifth inning, failed to throw leadoff batter Kishida's grounder toward third base to first base in time. It was followed by Minagawa's heavy hit and Sasaki's bunt with one out and runners on second and third. Here, Urata made a 2-1 turnaround with a sacrifice fly RBI and Matsumoto an RBI double to left field.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Samsung lost an additional point. Leading batters Kai Takuya and Minagawa got on base with consecutive hits. Sasaki's subsequent hit became a timely RBI hit as he headed to an exquisite place. Yomiuri's 3-1 lead. Later, the third baseman attempted to score on Uri's bunt and Maru Yoshihiro's ground ball to the second base, but Park Se-hyuk's tag was fast. Since then, there have been no additional runs as the third base runner has run down even in a squeeze situation.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Yomiuri scored one run with two consecutive hits against Hong Seung-won in the final attack to make it 4-1. Samsung's batting line-up broke out late. Shim Jae-hoon and Jeon Byung-woo made consecutive hits against Hiromasa Funavasama in the top of the 10th inning to make first and third bases with no outs. Lee Hae-seung's strikeout and Yomiuri shortstop failed to catch Kim Heon-gon's ball, and Samsung made up for one point.

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*This content was translated by AI.