Not wanting to finish last anymore, can the Samsung Lions gain momentum with support?
The Samsung Lions will play their 15th game of the season against the LG Twins of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League on Sunday at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu. With Baek Jung-hyun starting against Casey Kelly, the Lions can wrap up a three-game midweek series with a win.
Currently in ninth place, Samsung is 42-1, 59 (.416), 1.5 games behind the last-place Kiwoom Heroes. The gap to the eighth-place Hanwha Eagles is three games, making last place closer than eighth. Samsung needs wins to avoid falling out of the race, and they have a number of players returning to help them on the mound and in the infield.
On the mound, left-hander Choi Chae-heung returns. Choi took the loss in his last start against the Doosan Bears on April 8, giving up five runs (four earned) on eight hits (one home run) and two walks in five innings. The next day, Samsung sent Choi down to the second team. At the time, Samsung manager Park Jin-man said, “I don’t think his pitches are up yet. He doesn’t have the physical strength and the ball doesn’t have the power.”
After being sent down to the second team, Choi regrouped and started the Futures League game against Sangsung on the 15th, pitching one scoreless inning. He didn’t throw a lot of pitches, but he was able to get out of the game unscathed.
Before the game against the LG Twins in Daegu on the 17th, manager Park Jin-man said, “Choi Chae-heung will start on the 19th (against the KIA Tigers in Daegu). He’s in good shape,” Park said, adding, “As I said last time, he needs to gain some strength on the ball, but I thought it would be better to take a tempo break, so I think he would have gained a lot of strength (by going to the second team).” If all goes according to plan, Samsung will send Taylor Widener, Choi Chae-heung, and Won Tae-in to the mound for the three-game weekend series against KIA.
On the infield, infielder Kim Ji-chan is still waiting for a call-up to the first team. He checked out the Futures League games against Sangmu on the 15th and 16th, and there’s a chance he could be back in time for the three-game weekend series.메이저사이트
“We plan to call him up as early as tomorrow, but we need to make changes to the roster through today’s game, so we’ll have to check after the game,” said Park Jin-man. “Until today, he trained more firmly, and by the 16th, he said he didn’t have any problems with his physical condition,” he added.
Including the game against LG on the 17th, Samsung has 44 games left. Samsung, which is desperate to “build up wins,” can only hope that the players who are out of the lineup will return quickly.
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