Two days in a row, the ‘back door’ was a problem 메이저사이트. The shock is bigger because the pitchers who have been trusted by the command tower are sluggish. The Doosan Bears fell to 6th place after finishing the weekend 3 consecutive matches with 1 win and 2 losses along with the sluggishness of Pil Seung-jo.

Doosan fell into a two-game losing streak after losing 5-8 in the 11th game of the season against SSG Landers in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League held at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on the 27th. The season record was 54 wins, 1 draw and 53 losses (0.505), and the ranking was exchanged with the KIA Tigers, who had won 4 consecutive wins.

After winning 10-1 on the first day of the series, Doosan failed to maintain a two-point lead the next day and suffered a come-from-behind defeat 5-7. In a series where 2 wins, 1 loss, or even a sweep was possible, I had to be content with 1 win.

In particular, on both the 26th and 27th, pitchers in charge of winning groups in the team gave up runs side by side, which led to the defeat. On the 26th, Park Chi-guk, who took the mound at the beginning of the 8th inning with a 5-3 lead, gave up 3 runs at once with Ha Jae-hoon’s ground home run and Jeon Eui-san’s solo shot, and Jeong Cheol-won, who came up in the 9th inning with a lead of 5-6, was in danger of being loaded with one run. He contributed 1 point with a push-off walk of the mountain.

In the first game of the series, starting pitcher Kwak Bin’s good pitching minimized bullpen consumption, and on the 27th, Doosan poured everything into the winning series. After starting pitcher Raul Alcantara threw 7 innings and went down, he immediately called Hong Kun-hee, and Kim Myung-shin and Jeong Cheol-won also made relief mounds in turn. 

Hong Kun-hee, who had blocked the first inning the previous day with no runs, was hit by a solo shot by Choi Jeong in the top of the 8th inning when the match was tight 4-4. From that point on, something went wrong. Kim Myung-shin, who took over the mound in the top of the ninth inning, extended the game to overtime, but in the top of the 10th inning, Kim Chan-hyung hit a double from one run, and fourth pitcher Jeong Cheol-won failed to prevent the run with Jeon Eui-san’s one RBI timely hit after Park Seong-han’s ground ball.

This wasn’t the end. Jeong Cheol-won made 2 out 2nd and 3rd base with follow-up hitter Ha Jae-hoon’s hits and wild throws, and Kim Seong-hyun hit 2 RBIs on time and collapsed. In the end, he couldn’t finish all the innings and handed over the mound to Yuseong Kim. Since the match against Gocheok Kiwoom Heroes on the 24th, they have conceded 3 goals in a row.

The batters showed their will to pursue until the end while accumulating points one by one, but there was a limit. It was difficult to close the distance any longer due to Pil Seung-jo’s consecutive goals.

Including the game on the 27th, Doosan’s bullpen average ERA in August was 5.03, which is relatively high among teams competing for the quarterfinals. During this period, Jung Cheol-won (8 games, 1 loss, 2 saves, average ERA of 7.00), Hong Kun-hee (11 games, 1 loss, 2 holds, 1 save, average ERA of 5.59), Park Chi-guk (12 games, 2 wins, 2 losses, 1 hold, average ERA of 5.11), Kim Myung-shin (13 games, 1 hold) Lose 2 holds average ERA 4.50), etc. Most of the bullpen pitchers are showing sluggish performance.

The coaching staff is not unaware of this situation. Before the game, Doosan coach Lee Seung-yeop said, “These pitchers have done well so far. How well have they played until August? Despite the sluggish batting line, the reason why they have been able to maintain their ranking so far is actually because of the strength of the pitchers, so once (the pace ) I think it’s done when I fall,” diagnosing Pil Seung-jo’s sluggishness.

Next, coach Lee said, “I hope the period of falling doesn’t last that long. I hope to reorganize quickly and give strength as I have done well, and to reduce the burden on the bullpen, starting pitchers should block at least 5 innings. Kim Dong-joo or Kim Min-kyu. Likewise, I think the pitchers who pitched in the back were a little tired as the pitchers who started as substitutes came down the mound quickly without pulling more than 5 innings.”

Currently, it is expected that it will take a considerable amount of time for the mound to be reorganized. It is not enough for one or two people to exert themselves. It is time for pitchers staying in the 1st team as well as pitchers preparing for a call-up or going down to the 2nd team to make up their minds. Now, the number of games left for Doosan is 36, or 25% of the entire regular season schedule.