Lotte Giants acting manager Lee Jong-woon spoke about the team’s remaining schedule in an interview before their game against the Kiwoom Heroes in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Sajik Stadium in Busan on Friday.메이저사이트
Lotte earned a 3-1 sixth-inning cold victory against KIA on the 13th due to rain. The game on the 14th was completely canceled due to rain and will be organized at a later date. “I think we’ll still play today,” said acting manager Lee Jong-woon, who returned to Busan after the trip to Gwangju, looking at the tarped ground and cloudy skies.
This season, the KBO has been struggling to digest the remaining games in its schedule due to the long rainy season and typhoons, which have resulted in a series of rain cancelations. With the Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) coming up in November, the postseason schedule cannot be pushed back any further. The Giants may have to play additional doubleheaders in the future if there are rainouts.
“There is pressure to go to Gwangju again,” said Lee Jong-woon about the rainout. But it’s better not to play in the rain than to play in bad conditions. Anyway, it’s best to play the game in good condition.”
Lotte had announced Park Se-woong as the starting pitcher on the 14th, but changed to Charlie Barnes for the game. Manager Lee Jong-woon said, “Park Se-woong will pitch one game and then we’ll let him pitch one more game, but we need to see the situation. Na Kyun-ahn will pitch one more game and then send him to the Asian Games. I don’t think it’s necessary to overwork him, so I scheduled his appearance like this.”
It has been raining off and on in Busan since the morning. A tarp has been set up on the field just in case, but it is not expected to cause any major problems for the start of the game. “The weather is very ambiguous,” said coach Lee Jong-woon when asked about the rain forecast for the night, “but once the game starts, it will be difficult to stop. We had a cold rainy win in the last game, and there were some good things that happened because of the bad weather. We have to take this opportunity to play well,” he laughed.