The Doosan Bears, who have lost two straight after an 11-game winning streak, will be without two of their starting outfielders.
Doosan will play its eighth game of the season against the LG Twins of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League on April 28 at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. Raul Alcantara will start against Casey Kelly.
Doosan went on an 11-game winning streak against the Lotte Giants in Jamsil on the 25th, breaking the longest winning streak in Bears franchise history (previously 10 games in 2000 and 2018).
However, Doosan lost to Lotte on the 26th and 27th, ending a three-game midweek series with a losing streak that lasted 27 days, from June 28th against the Jamsil NC Dinos to June 30th against the Ulsan Lotte. Meanwhile, the gap between third-place Doosan and fourth-place NC has shrunk to one game. Depending on the outcome of the weekend series, the standings could change.
In addition, starting outfielders Kim Jae-hwan and Jeong Soo-bin will not start against LG on the 28th due to body aches and a finger injury, respectively. Kim Jae-hwan’s condition will need to be monitored, while Jeong Soo-bin, who sprained his finger while fielding in the previous game, could be used late in the game as a pinch-hitter or pinch-runner. However, Lee explained that hitting is difficult.
“I don’t think we exhausted our pitchers that much the day before, so I’m not really worried about it, but we need to win quickly because the winning streak is getting longer, so we might actually have a long losing streak after the winning streak,” said Lee Seung-yeop. “Kim Jae-hwan is out and Jeong Soo-bin is a little sick, so that’s a bit of a concern, but we have to play a good game today because Alcantara will start and Yang Ji will wear a catcher’s mask. We don’t want the losing streak to get longer,” he said, expressing his expectations for the players’ performance.
Heo Kyung-min (third base), Kim Jae-ho (shortstop), Jose Rojas (right field), Yang Ji (catcher), Yang Seok-hwan (designated hitter), Kang Seung-ho (first base), Park Kye-beom (second base), Kim Tae-geun (center field), and Cho Su-hyun (left field) were the lineup for the game. Park Kye-beom and Cho Su-hyun were included in the starting lineup in place of players who were not feeling well, while Kang Seung-ho started at first base. Kim Jae-ho, who hit an RBI single against Lotte the day before, will form a table-setter with Heo Kyung-min.토토사이트
Meanwhile, LG, which snapped a five-game losing streak with a 9-6 win over the KT Wiz the day before, lined up in the following order: Hong Chang-ki (right field), Moon Sung-joo (designated hitter), Kim Hyun-soo (left field), Austin Dean (first base), Oh Ji-hwan (shortstop), Moon Bo-kyung (third base), Park Dong-won (catcher), Park Hae-min (center field), and Shin Min-jae (second base). The starting pitcher was Casey Kelly.
LG manager Yeom Kyung-yeop said, “Kelly must go six innings today. The middle pitchers are tired. The starting pitchers need to work hard,” and “Kelly needs to pitch well. I’m still hopeful. Hopefully he can get back to the Kelly of old. We can only hope. She has to do her part to get us back on track. I’m anxious.”
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)