Lotte Giants’ Na Gyun-an (25) returned from injury but couldn’t get any help from his defense and took the loss.
Na took the mound against the Kiwoom Heroes in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Monday, giving up three runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts in five innings.
After getting leadoff hitter Kim Tae-jin to fly out to center field in the first inning, Na Gyun-ahn gave up a single to Kim Hye-sung but got Ronnie Dawson and Song Sung-moon to pop out to end the inning. In the second inning, he tagged Kim Hwijip for a leadoff double and then caught a grounder from Kim Dong-heon himself, but he struck out Kim Xiang and got Kim Tae-jin to fly out to left field to end the inning.
After striking out three in the third, Na Gyun-an led off the fourth with a double off Kim Hwijip. Joo Sung-won followed with a single and then gave up a sacrifice fly to Lee Joo-hyung. Jeon Byung-woo struck out to end the inning.
In the fifth inning, Na Gyun-an fell victim to an unseen error by the fielders. After a leadoff single by Kim Jun-wan and a sacrifice bunt by Kim Tae-jin put runners on first and second, Na gave up a sharp grounder to Kim Hye-sung, but it flew straight to center fielder Kim Min-seok for the second out. Dawson induced a grounder to the second baseman, but first baseman Ahn Chi-hong tripped and fell while chasing the ball and was unable to get to first base, and Na Gyun-ahn tried to get to first base himself but was ruled out after video review.
With runners on first and third, Na allowed Dawson to steal second. Song Sung-moon induced a high fly ball to left field, but left fielder Lee Jung-hoon was unable to follow the ball confidently and the ball landed right in front of him for a two-run double. Lee struck out Kim Hwijip to end the inning, but it was a tough outing and the 2-3 deficit.
After throwing 99 pitches, Na Gyun-an handed the mound over to Lee In-bok to end the game. Lotte suffered its second straight loss with the 2-5 setback, and Na suffered the loss in his return from injury.
Na faced the Kiwoom bats with a fastball (40 pitches), fork (32 pitches), curve (13 pitches), cutter (13 pitches), and changeup (1 pitch). His fastball topped out at 145 kilometers per hour. He cruised through the fourth inning, limiting runs as much as possible, but couldn’t get over the hump in the fifth.안전놀이터
The Lotte outfield didn’t record an error while Na Gyun-ahn was pitching, but some poor defense in the fifth inning proved decisive. Ahn Chi-hong fell while fielding and was unable to contribute to the play, giving Dawson an infield single, and Lee Jeong-hoon was unable to follow through with his bunt and gave up a game-tying double. Neither play was recorded as an error, but it was disappointing. In the eighth inning, Lee couldn’t chase down Kim Jun-wan’s hard-hit pitch and gave up an RBI double.