The Lotte Giants are suffering from a terrible case of ‘wizard phobia’ and are on the verge of collapse. Whenever they face KT Wiz, the Giants’ bats struggle and collapse into helplessness.
Lotte lost 2-8 in the 11th game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League against KT at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on April 21. After a 2-5 reversal the previous day, Lotte surrendered a win to KT for the second straight day to secure the three-game midweek series.
Lotte handed the game over to KT early, as ace Na Gyun-an struggled on the mound, giving up six runs on 10 hits with two walks and three strikeouts in five innings.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the offense. By the seventh inning, they had managed just one run on four hits off KT starter Ko Young-pyo. The only run scored against Ko would have been unearned if not for two KT fielding errors in the top of the second inning.
Lotte has an absolute disadvantage of 3-8 against KT this season until this game. With the exception of the first-place SSG Landers (2-5), second-place LG Twins (3-3), and ninth-place Samsung Lions (2-4), the other seven clubs all have a better head-to-head record against KT, while Lotte has a -5 win-loss margin against KT alone.
It’s been a vicious cycle for the Lions, who allowed KT to sweep them in Anbang Sajik on June 6-8 and then got swept in the return match two weeks later when the venue was moved to Suwon.
Lotte is 5-13 in June, ranking last in monthly winning percentage, and five of its 13 losses, more than a third, have come to KT. KT, on the other hand, has taken five of its 12 wins so far in June from Lotte, giving it a foothold in the mid-table.
If Lotte loses Game 23, they will suffer the humiliation of a second straight sweep by KT. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the team’s mood is sinking and the crisis is getting worse against KT.
The biggest problem against KT is the bats. Lotte has a team batting average of .257 this season, which ranks fifth in the league, but it plummets to .223 against KT. Out of the nine teams, Lotte bats are the worst at hitting the ball off KT pitchers. In contrast, Lotte pitchers have been relatively good against KT, with a team ERA of 3.98.
It’s also a concern that left-hander Wes Benjamin, who is scheduled to start for KT on April 22, has been strong against Lotte. Benjamin is 1-0 with a 3.55 ERA in two career starts against Lotte.
While Jeon Jun-woo went 5-for-2 and Yoo Kang-nam went 3-for-2 against Benjamin, most of the main bats struggled against him, including Han Dong-hee, who went 0-for-6, and Ahn Chi-hong, who went 1-for-6.온라인카지노
The team’s inferiority against certain teams also has a significant impact on their season performance. Recalling their disastrous 2015 season, when they went 1-15 against local rival NC Dinos and missed out on the postseason by 4.5 games in fifth place, the team needs to shake off their KT phobia sooner rather than later to set the stage for a rebound.