Doosan continued its battle for third place with a win in the ‘left-handed ace matchup’.
Doosan rode the back of Brandon Waddell, who allowed just one hit and a walk over six innings while striking out eight, to a 2-1 victory over Lotte at Jamsil Stadium on Monday.
Brandon won a no-decision against Charlie Barnes, dubbed the “Doosan Killer. Barnes stayed on the mound until the sixth inning, but was unable to secure the win after giving up two runs on eight hits. Doosan closer Jung Chul-won faced runners on second and third in the ninth, but he struck out pinch-hitter Kim Min-seok to preserve the win.
Avenging the previous day’s loss, Doosan earned its 71st win of the season (2-63) and remained 0.5 games behind third-place NC. With the win, Doosan secured its fifth win of the season. The team has more than made up for last year’s ninth-place finish in less than a year.
Brandon’s pitches shined. Brandon, who scared the Lotte bats with a fastball that reached a maximum speed of 151 kilometers per hour, pitched a perfect game with a cut fastball and a curveball. His backdoor curveball completely took away the timing, and his unexpected body fastball froze the Lotte bats in place.
“The bullpen did a great job protecting the lead today,” said Brandon, who picked up his 11th win of the season (3-0). It’s a team win, not an individual win,” he said, adding, “We will fight as a team for the rest of the season and in the postseason so that we can continue to win in the fall.”
The bats came alive in the fourth inning. 온라인바카라 After missing opportunities to put runners on first and second in the first two innings, Doosan finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth when Yang Seok-hwan, who led off the inning with a double to the top of the left-center field fence. Yang led off with a single off the left field fence, and Kim Jae-hwan followed with a single down the left field line to put runners on first and third with no outs. Kang Seung-ho followed with a sacrifice fly to left field to load the bases.
Jung Chul-won, who relieved in the top of the eighth, faced runners on first and second in the bottom of the ninth, but struck out the side for the final out.
Kang Seung-ho, who played a key role in shutting down the Barnes, said, “There are still a lot of games left, so I think we can definitely finish third. We have a good team atmosphere, so we will challenge for higher places.”