"Two hits? Is this a fire?" Samsung's bats freeze solid, and their "secret weapon," pinch hitter Choi Hyeong-woo, never even gets the chance to step in

*This content was translated by AI.View Original

The first spark of fall baseball, which they had hoped to ignite at home, was extinguished miserably. It was regrettable that the starting pitcher card collapsed early, but even more painful was the complete silence of a lineup that managed only two hits. Choi Hyeong-woo (43), the "secret weapon" kept in reserve on the bench, unfortunately never got the chance to come out.

The Samsung Lions suffered a helpless 1-5 defeat in Game 1 of the 2026 KBO Playoffs (PO, best-of-five series) against the KIA Tigers, held at Daegu Samsung Lions Park on the 26th.

It was a game where the balance between pitching and batting collapsed instantly. Starter Chris Fiddix wavered, allowing five runs including two home runs, and ultimately handed the mound to rookie Bae Chan-seung with two outs in the fifth inning. His final line: 4⅔ innings, 5 hits allowed (2 home runs), 4 strikeouts, 2 walks, 5 runs allowed.

While it was painful that the starting pitcher could not hold up, the real trigger of the defeat was the extreme offensive drought of a lineup that showed no sign of closing the score gap.

In fact, Samsung's flow was cut off from the very start on this day. Leadoff hitter Kim Ji-chan opened things with a pleasant center-field single in the bottom of the first inning, but immediately after, follow-up hitter Kim Seong-yoon's grounder to first base turned into a double play, wiping out the scoring opportunity in an instant.

What followed was a series of thorough silences. In the bottom of the fifth inning with two outs and a runner on second, Kim Young-woong hit a precious left-field RBI single to finally recover one run, but that was the last hit Samsung produced that day. During the nine regular innings, the entire lineup combined for only a scattered total of two hits.

With the score gap widening and no runners accumulating on base, the bench's calculations were completely thrown off. Veteran slugger Choi Hyeong-woo, waiting as a pinch hitter aiming for a "big hit" to turn the tide at a crucial moment, never even got the chance to step into the batter's box.

With no setup whatsoever for a comeback or a chase, they helplessly lost the game without being able to deploy their strongest card. Samsung, whose bats froze cold from the home Game 1 and who bore a 1-5 defeat, now faces Game 2 with the heavy task of reviving their offense.

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

*This content was translated by AI.View Original