“Three recorded errors” — Samsung’s self-destruction, and even quick pitcher changes proved futile… If they can’t cut down on errors, a Korea Series berth is a luxury [PO4 Game Review]

*This content was translated by AI.View Original

The solid shield that was “ranked first with the fewest errors” in the regular season shattered without a trace in the playoffs. No matter how quickly and nimbly the bench moved to swap pitchers, there is no way to protect a victory if the fielders behind them keep dropping the ball.

The Samsung Lions suffered a painful 2-4 comeback loss to the KIA Tigers in Game 4 of the 2026 KBO Playoffs on the 30th at Gwangju-KIA Champions Field. The series score is tied at 2 wins and 2 losses, back to square one. But more painful than the score was a defensive collapse that bordered on self-destruction.

Signs of instability began in the 5th inning. In the bottom of the 5th, first baseman Lewin Diaz committed an error, followed by second baseman Ryu Ji-hyuk’s fielding error in the bottom of the 6th. The team managed to get through those two instances without allowing runs, but the festering defense ultimately decided the outcome in the decisive bottom of the 7th inning.

With Samsung clinging to a razor-thin 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 7th with one out and no runners on base, Kim Do-young’s hard grounder went straight through the legs of third baseman Kim Young-woong. A situation that should have easily resulted in two outs instantly turned into a one-out, runner-on-second-base crisis.

That fatal error woke up the KIA lineup. Samsung immediately allowed Castro to hit a tying RBI single. After striking out Na Seung-beom, they were hit for a single by Kim Sun-bin, finding themselves in a two-out, runners-on-first-and-third-base jam. The Samsung bench tried to put out the fire with a quick pitcher change, pulling the wobbly Miyamori Satoshi and making an emergency insertion of Lee Jae-hee.

However, the game flow broken by the defense could not be reversed even with the clever move of a pitching change. Lee Jae-hee was hit for a go-ahead RBI single by Han Jun-soo and a decisive RBI single by Ha Ju-seok immediately after taking the mound. Four consecutive hits poured in following the error, resulting in three runs allowed in an instant. All three runs recorded against Satoshi on this day were unearned runs due to fielding errors by the infielders. The strong pitching of starter Fedick, who threw 99 pitches over 5⅓ innings for one run after a three-day rest, and the valuable solo home run hit by Choi Hyeong-woo in the top of the 6th inning were both washed out by the barrage of errors.

In a short series, an error means defeat. For a team that self-destructed with three recorded errors in a single game and committed errors in three consecutive innings from the 5th to the 7th, victory is a greed and a luxury. In fact, there were also unrecorded errors. There were many scenes where they failed to catch balls that should have been easily handled. Samsung was the team with the fewest errors in the regular season. As a result, after throwing six relief pitchers on the previous day (the 29th), they used up five more today and still lost.

Samsung Manager Park Jin-man shared his honest feelings when asked about the most regrettable moment of the game: “In hindsight, we made an error, allowed runs, and were overtaken, so that inning (the 7th) leaves a lot to be desired.”

Even so, he defended the players who bore the blame for the loss. Manager Park added, “Our players still prepared well. Errors can happen, and there is a next game,” noting, “Because they are players with solid fundamentals, they must have felt that in a short series, victory or defeat is decided by small things. They will prepare well.”

The battle now moves to the final Game 5, scheduled for 2 p.m. on November 1 in Daegu. If Samsung fails to firm up their fundamentals while on the brink and wobbles again in defense, they have no qualification to head toward the Korea Series. /Samsung assigned reporter

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original