‘4 Hits Explosion → 211 Hits’ Reyes Secures Batting Title, Overtaking Choi Won-jun! Lotte Closes Out Kim Tae-hyung Era with ‘7th-7th-7th’ [Jamsil On-Site Review]

*This content was translated by AI.View Original

The Lotte Giants, who hit a combined 16 hits of various lengths, defeated the Doosan Bears to finish the regular season in seventh place.

Lotte won 7-4 against Doosan in their final game of the season (away game) at Seoul Jamsil Baseball Stadium on the 12th in the ‘2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League’.

With this victory, Lotte overtook the NC Dinos to finish the season in seventh place. Manager Kim Tae-hyung, who played his final game of a three-year contract with Lotte, remained in seventh place for the third consecutive season, following the 2024 season (7th) and 2025 season (7th), concluding the ‘three years of the Kim Tae-hyung era’ with ‘7-7-7’. Expanding the scope to the entire Lotte organization, they have finished in seventh place for four consecutive seasons from the 2023 season through this current season. Meanwhile, Doosan, which has already secured fifth place, will face the fourth-place LG Twins in the Wild Card playoff game.

On the other hand, Jamsil Stadium sold out all 23,750 seats early at 5:42 p.m., before the start of the game on this day. This marks Doosan’s 33rd sellout record for the season. As a result, home team Doosan recorded a cumulative attendance of 1,507,522, surpassing the previous record of 1,430,432 in 2025 and building the golden tower of ‘breaking 1.5 million spectators’ for the first time in a single season in club history.

On this day, Lotte lined up in the following order: Reyes (designated hitter)-Na Seung-yeop (first baseman)-Ko Seung-min (second baseman)-Han Dong-hee (third baseman)-Jeon Min-jae (shortstop)-Son Seong-bin (catcher)-Jeon Jun-woo (left fielder)-Jang Doo-seong (right fielder)-Hwang Seong-bin (center fielder). The starting pitcher was Park Se-woong.

In response, Doosan set their lineup with Park Chan-ho (shortstop)-Son Ah-seop (right fielder)-Severino (first baseman)-Yang Eui-ji (catcher)-Kim Min-seok (left fielder)-Ahn Jae-seok (third baseman)-Yang Seok-hwan (designated hitter)-Kang Seung-ho (second baseman)-Jeong Soobin (center fielder). Lee Yong-chan, who has a role close to an ‘opener’, took the mound as the starting pitcher.

The two teams exchanged scores from the first inning. In the top of the first, Lotte took the lead after Ko Seung-min’s hit with two outs, as Han Dong-hee smashed a two-run home run down the left-center gap with a carry distance of 130 meters.

Doosan immediately counterattacked. In the bottom of the first, with one out, they loaded the bases with two outs following Son Ah-seop’s hit, Severino’s walk, and Kim Min-seok being hit by a pitch. Then, taking advantage of an error on Na Seung-yeop’s throw from first base for Lotte during Ahn Jae-seok’s grounder, two runners scored to tie the game at 2-2.

Lotte pulled away again in the second inning. Leadoff hitter Son Seong-bin hit a solo home run over the left field fence (carry distance 120 meters) to take a 3-2 lead. With one out, consecutive hits by Jang Doo-seong and Hwang Seong-bin created a runner on first and third base opportunity. Reyes, who had struck out on a fly ball to left field in the top of the first, attacked Park Chi-guk’s first-pitch changeup to record an RBI single down the middle (his 208th hit of the season).

A fierce psychological battle over the batting title also flared up. Before the game, Reyes was leading with 207 hits, two ahead of KT’s Choi Won-jun (205). At the same time in Daegu, Choi Won-jun hit a double in the first inning against the Samsung Lions, narrowing the gap to one, but Reyes immediately added another hit to maintain a two-hit lead.

Lotte continued their opportunity and scored three runs in the top of the second alone, as Na Seung-yeop also hit an RBI single down the left field against reliever Lee Byung-hun. Doosan recovered one run in the bottom of the third with Ahn Jae-seok’s RBI double down the right-center gap from a first and second base opportunity created by consecutive hits from Yang Eui-ji and Kim Min-seok with one out.

Subsequently, news came from Daegu that Choi Won-jun hit an RBI single down the left field for one run in the top of the fourth, closing the gap to one again. In response, Reyes recorded his 209th hit with a single down the middle against Jacklog with no outs and a runner on first in the top of the fourth while leading 5-3, pulling ahead of Choi Won-jun (207) by two hits again.

Reyes’ bat did not cool down. In the top of the sixth, with two outs and no runners on base, he hit a solo home run over the left field fence (carry distance 120 meters) after a full count battle. He decorated his 210th hit of the season with a powerful home run to extend the lead to 6-3. Doosan also stuck tenaciously. In the bottom of the seventh, following Kim Min-seok’s hit and pinch runner Ryu Seung-min’s entry with one out, Yang Seok-hwan hit an RBI double over the left fielder against reliever Kim Won-joong with two outs to close in on 4-6.

However, Lotte drove the nail into the coffin of the game in the top of the eighth. They extended their lead by one run with Hwang Seong-bin’s RBI single down the middle from a first and second base opportunity created by Kim Dong-hyuk being hit by a pitch and stealing second base. Then, with one out and a runner on first, Reyes smashed a single down the middle against Kim Young-hyun to create a first and second base opportunity. With this hit, completing his 211st hit of the season, Reyes was immediately replaced by pinch runner Park Chan-hyung, ending his regular season at-bats. Lotte cleanly suppressed Doosan’s counterattacks in the bottom of the eighth and ninth innings to hold onto their 7-4 victory.

On this day, Reyes finished his long journey with 211 hits for the season, including one home run and four hits. On the same day in Daegu, KT’s Choi Won-jun also recorded three hits to reach 208 for the season in a fierce pursuit, but Reyes maintained the gap with a one-man show of four hits to secure the title of most hits in the 2026 KBO League season.

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original