Lotte Giants catcher Yoo Kang-nam (31) showed his value and helped the team end its losing streak.

Lotte pulled off a thrilling 2-1 come-from-behind victory over the LG Twins in the seventh game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on Wednesday. With the win, Lotte snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 33-31 with a +2 run differential and a 4-3 record against LG.

Above all, Yoo Kang-nam’s offensive performance stood out. Against his hometown team.

First, the defense. In the bottom of the third inning, he gave up a single to Moon Sung-joo. In the next at-bat, Shin Min-jae stole second base. Catcher Yoo Kang-nam nailed Moon with an accurate throw. Starting pitcher Park Se-woong gave a thumbs-up to Yoo Kang-nam. Park then got Shin Min-jae to ground out to the catcher to end the inning.메이저놀이터

Park also had a good outing. They combined for eight innings of three-hit ball, no walks, five strikeouts and one earned run.

The offense also contributed. It was the top of the eighth inning, trailing 0-1. Yoo Kang-nam led off with a single to left against LG starter Casey Kelly. After striking out and walking in her previous two at-bats, she didn’t fare much better in her third at-bat.

Yoo’s hit set the stage for the tying run. When Kim Min-seok laid down a sacrifice bunt, Hwang Sung-bin collided with shortstop Oh Ji-hwan at second base. The umpires called it an interference call, putting runners on first and third, and Ko Seung-min’s sacrifice fly tied the game at 1-1.

Lotte then picked up the momentum and succeeded in chasing Go Woo-seok in the bottom of the ninth. Jeon Jun-woo walked and Ahn Chi-hong singled to put runners on first and third, and Park Seung-wook hit the game-winning shot to win the game 2-1.

Before the game, manager Larry Sutton said of Yoo, “He’s been focusing on his defense and catching. He’s doing a good job at the plate himself, and he’s trying to do a good job. He just hasn’t found the point where he needs to go up-cycle yet. But I like that he wants to do well in the fielding and batting, and he’s working really hard. I want to ease the burden on the offense to make the defense easier,” said Yoo Kang-nam, explaining the value of the catcher.

Yoo, who signed a four-year, 8 billion won free agent contract to wear the Lotte uniform, is in the midst of a career-low in the batting department. Before this game, he was batting .225 with two home runs and 22 RBIs in 60 games.

As a result, he has been frustrated with his lack of success at the plate, but he was able to contribute to the team’s victory with a single and a stolen base. This is probably the value that the manager was referring to.

After the game, Park repeatedly mentioned Yoo’s name and expressed his gratitude. He said, “(Yoo) Kang-nam studies a lot. There are things that he tells you at the moment. The fact that he was in tune with his brother led to good pitching,” he said.

Since you were playing against your hometown team, there must have been some tricks that LG’s hitters used. Did they give him any tips? “I studied a lot about the LG batters’ tendencies, and I had a good body game, and the changeups that I mixed in with the body game worked well,” Park pointed out.