"It's over now." At that moment, a miracle happened for Lotte... '13 runs in one inning' explosion → continued the faint hope

*This content was translated by AI.

The Lotte Giants remain in eighth place, nine games behind fifth-place Doosan Bears. Nevertheless, they have not given up hope until the end and are striving hard toward the postseason.

In that sense, the three-game home series against Kiwoom Heroes this week was an extremely important match for Lotte. Until just before the series, Lotte had shown overwhelming superiority over Kiwoom with eight wins and two losses this season. If they had lost this three-game series, it would not have been an exaggeration to say that their playoff chances were virtually gone.

However, in the first game on the 18th, Lotte's starting pitcher Bissell gave up six innings with ten hits allowed and eight earned runs, falling behind 0-8 by the top of the 7th inning. The batters were tightly held to three hits and no runs against Kiwoom's starter Jeon Jun-pyo for six innings. It seemed as if a dark shadow of "It's over now" was descending on Lotte.

Suddenly, a miracle occurred. As soon as Jeon Jun-pyo came out and Kiwoom's bullpen entered the game, Lotte's lineup exploded in the bottom of the 7th inning. Starting with a walk by Jeon Min-jae, Hwang Seong-bin hit a two-run double, followed by Reyes' sacrifice fly, and then Han Dong-hee's bases-loaded home run. The score instantly changed to 7-8.

It was not the end. After two outs, Jeon Min-jae hit another infield single to center field, followed by Son Seong-bin's two-run double and sacrifice flies from Na Seung-yeop, Reyes (two RBIs), and Han Dong-hee. In a single 7th inning, 18 batters came to the plate, recording 11 hits and three walks, scoring an incredible 13 runs.

According to the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), this is a new Lotte record for most runs in one inning (previously 11 runs, achieved twice on October 4, 2011, against Hanwha Eagles in Busan). In KBO history, it ranks tied for second after Hanwha's 16 runs against Lotte in Busan on April 17, 2019.

Lotte also scored two more runs in the bottom of the 8th inning when Son Seong-bin hit a two-run home run, winning 15-10. Following their comeback victory over NC Dinos 8-5 on the 15th, they secured back-to-back wins. Their season record against Kiwoom improved to nine wins and two losses.

Breaths were relieved, but there is still a long way to go. As of the 18th, Lotte has recorded 47 wins, two draws, and 57 losses in 106 games (winning percentage 0.452, win-loss margin -10). Assuming fifth-place Doosan (56 wins, four draws, 48 losses, winning percentage 0.538) maintains a win-loss margin of +8 by finishing with a .500 winning percentage from now on, Lotte would need to achieve 28 wins and 10 losses in the remaining 38 games, posting an incredible .737 winning percentage just to barely make it into the top five.

During a season, there are cases where the result of a single game unexpectedly becomes a decisive turning point for team morale and the overall race. It remains to be seen whether Lotte, which has kept alive its faint hope toward the postseason, can continue writing miracle dramas like yesterday's game throughout the rest of the season.

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*This content was translated by AI.