"Lotte is very fortunate." Excluding Hwang Sung-bin from the thigh pain, he avoided cancellation of the first team! Director Kim Tae-hyung said, "I'm going to watch it on the 2nd or 3rd" [the scene of Jamsil]

*This content was translated by AI.

The Lotte Giants, who have a busy way to go, breathed a sigh. Hwang Sung-bin (29), who showed discomfort in his thighs the previous day (14th), avoided canceling the first-team entry.

Lotte announced its starting lineup in an away game against the LG Twins in the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League regular season at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the 15th.

On this day, Lotte formed a lineup of Victor Reyes (left fielder), Son Ho-young (center fielder), Noh Jin-hyuk (first baseman), Han Dong-hee (third baseman), Jeon Joon-woo (designated hitter), Yoon Dong-hee (right fielder), Han Tae-yang (second baseman), Son Sung-bin (poster), and Jeon Min-jae (striker). The starting pitcher is left-hander Kim Jin-wook.

Against this, LG consisted of Park Hae-min (center fielder), Moon Sung-joo (left wing), Austin Dean (designated hitter), Moon Bo-kyung (first baseman), Oh Ji-hwan (striker), Koo Bon-hyuk (third baseman), Hong Chang-ki (right wing), Park Dong-won (captor), and Shin Min-jae (second baseman). The starting pitcher is left-hander Lachlan Wells.

It is notable that Hwang Sung-bin, the hottest player in Lotte, was excluded from the starting lineup. Hwang Sung-bin was active with a batting average of 0.341 (15 hits in 44 at-bats) and two RBIs in 14 games this season and an OPS (on-base plus slugging) of 0.796. An official from Lotte said, "Hwang Sung-bin has a tight right adductor muscle, so he was excluded from the starting line for management."

Outfielder Shin Yoon-hoo took over for the position. Shin Yoon-hoo is currently batting well with a batting average of 0.375 (6 hits in 16 at-bats) in five games in the Futures League.

On the previous day, he drew a close game with LG by playing multi-hit and good defense. Before the game, Lotte manager Kim Tae-hyung said, "Hwang Sung-bin's inner thighs are a little bad. So I put down Hyun-soo and put up the outfield," he said. "I was at the batter's box until the ninth inning, but he said it hurt at that time, too. It seems that it came up momentarily during the check process. I'm going to give him a break for two to three days," he said.

Son Ho-young, who changed his position from infield to outfield this year, will be in the center field. Son Ho-young, who moved from LG to Lotte in a trade during the 2024 season, was called a lucky star with a batting average of .317 in 102 games. Last year, he was sluggish with a batting average of 0.250 (82 hits in 328 at-bats) in 97 games, and this year, he chose to switch positions as a solution.

This year, he has a poor performance with a batting average of 0.226 (7 hits in 31 at-bats) in 14 games, but the head coach expressed his intention to give him a chance. Manager Kim Tae-hyung said, "There is also Jang Doo-sung (left-handed batter), but since the opponent is on the left, I will try to use Son Ho-young (right-handed hitter) first. Later, when he is a defense or a pinch runner, Jang Doo-sung can enter," he said.

For Lotte, which has won two consecutive games and injured its main players, the only one to trust is starting pitcher Kim Jin-wook. Kim Jin-wook succeeded in starting a dominant start (more than eight innings and less than one earned run) with three hits (one homer) and one walk and six strikeouts in eight innings against KT Wiz in Busan on the 8th.

Manager Kim Tae-hyung said, "Kim Jin-wook only needs to throw his own ball. The previous game was okay (when asked why the left-handed batter was not good). Before that, the opponent has no choice but to fall for it because he only tries to throw a low manned ball. Now, I also throw it high on my body and I'm good at it," he said.

<© STARNEWS. All rights reserved. No reproduction or redistribution allowed.>

*This content was translated by AI.