It was a loss that proved the baseball adage, “You can’t win with three no-hitters,” to be true for Samsung.

In the final game of a three-game midweek series against the Lotte Giants at Munsu Baseball Stadium in Ulsan on July 7, the Samsung Lions suffered a 1-2 loss in extra innings as the bats struggled despite a strong pitching performance from starter Won Tae-in.

Samsung got off to a clean start, taking the lead in the first inning when Kim Sung-yoon singled and stole second, and while starter Won Tae-in pitched a scoreless sixth inning to maintain the one-run lead, the bats were silent at every opportunity.스포츠토토

After taking the lead in the first inning, Kang Min-ho’s RBI single in the first inning, followed by RBI singles in each of the third and fifth innings, put a heavy burden on Wontae-in’s shoulders.

The sense of urgency grew as Samsung was unable to get out of its own way, scoring just one run in every inning from the first to the fifth, including a strikeout by Oh Jae-il and a failed steal by Pirela after reaching base on an error in the second, and loading the bases in the fourth but failing to capitalize.

After conceding the tying run in the bottom of the seventh and failing to score in the top of the extra inning, Samsung eventually gave up a game-tying hit to Lotte’s Yoo Kang-nam in the bottom of the 11th inning after Oh Seung-hwan worked out of a bases-loaded jam with two outs and a walk, ending the series with a 2-1 victory.

After a strong start to the second half of the series, Samsung’s bats have cooled off as of late, and the team seems to have lost its focus again.

Frustrated and tired from the long, extra-inning loss, Samsung travels to Jamsil for a four-game series, including a doubleheader against the Doosan Bears, and with a gaping hole in the starting lineup, Kim Dae-woo takes charge of a team in crisis as a temporary starter.