It was literally chaos. This is the story of the LG Twins-NC Dinos match that took place at Enpac (Changwon NC Park) on the 27th.
On the 27th at Changwon NC Park, the last game of the weekend 3 series between LG and NC was played. The result was a 5-3 victory for NC. With this, NC, who swept all the series and won 3 consecutive wins, recorded 55 wins, 2 draws and 49 losses, firmly defending 4th place. On the other hand, the leader LG, who fell into the mire of three consecutive losses, won 41 losses (65 wins, 2 draws), and the gap with the second place KT Wiz (62 wins, 2 draws, 47 losses) narrowed by 4.5 games.
This match was also very messy and attracted a lot of attention. First, on the 26th, in the match against LG-NC in Changwon, referee Yoon Sang-won, who took over as second baseman and failed to escape Park Kun-woo’s batted ball in the bottom of the ninth, was absent. At that time, according to the rule that if a ball hits the referee before the fielder, it becomes an infield hit, and LG, which led 5-3 until the 8th inning in the game, ended up losing 5-7.
Then, some ignorant fans threatened to terrorize referee Yoon Sang-won online. Originally, referee Yoon was scheduled to serve as the referee that day, but the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) referee committee decided not to use referee Yoon in preparation for an unexpected situation. Four detectives dispatched from the Masan Dongbu Police Station also went on patrol at the baseball field, creating a scene that was difficult to see even before the start.
There was chaos throughout the match. Lim Chan-kyu, who started as a starting pitcher for LG, hit Park Kun-woo in the head at the end of the first inning with a 144km fastball from 1st and 3rd base, and was ejected. His ninth headshot of the season. Fortunately, Park Geon-woo, who immediately went to the hospital and received a checkup, was diagnosed with no major abnormalities other than dizziness.
In the beginning of the 3rd inning, NC coach Kang In-kwon was ejected. The situation was this. NC starting pitcher Choi Seong-yeong, 스포츠토토 who was driven to 1st and 3rd base by giving consecutive hits to Park Hae-min and Hong Chang-ki, induced follow-up hitter Shin Min-jae to hit the second baseman.
NC second baseman Park Min-woo, who caught it in reverse motion while walking backwards, decided that it would be difficult to block third base runner Park Hae-min, who was rushing home, so he threw the ball to first base. It was to catch Hong Chang-ki, who overrun. Hong Chang-ki was out and the inning seemed to be over.
However, after an agreement, the referees judged that Park Hae-min had stepped on the groove before NC first baseman Do Tae-hoon caught the ball. Director Kang In-kwon requested a video review, but it was not overturned.
In response, coach Kang, knowing the rule that if he protested the video review, he would be ejected, but he came out to the ground and protested fiercely, and was eventually sent off. It was the 11th manager’s ejection this season and the ninth manager’s ejection following a protest as a result of the video review. Even after that, NC coaches, including batting coach Song Ji-man, continued to protest, and the game was stopped for more than 5 minutes.
At the end of the 4th inning, when NC had the right to attack, another injury came out. Ahn Joong-yeol, who entered the plate from 1st and 2nd base unscathed, tried to bunt. After catching the ball, third baseman Moon Bo-gyeong threw the ball to shortstop Oh Ji-hwan, who was covered at third base. At this time, Ahn Joong-yeol, who was running to first base, could not run properly because of some pain in his leg, and was eventually replaced by Kim Hyung-jun as soon as the defense started in the top of the 5th inning.
An NC official said at the time, “Ahn Joong-yeol was replaced due to discomfort in the right adductor muscle. He is currently undergoing icing treatment.”
An ambiguous situation came out in the beginning of the 8th inning when NC was leading 5-2. At that time, LG caught up with one point with pinch hitter Kim Hyeon-soo’s 1 RBI and right-handed hit at 1 out 1 and 2 base, connected by Park Hae-min’s bunt hit, Hong Chang-ki’s sand ball, and Shin Min-jae’s catcher’s ground ball. Then, Min-jae Shin, who was digging into the home on Austin Dean’s grounder on third base, was out, and two outs were made on first and second base.
At this time, NC right-hander bullpen resource Ryu Jin-wook, who was on the mound, committed a wild throw while Oh Ji-hwan was at bat. With the runners advancing one base at a time, the ball headed toward the third base LG dugout. The ball hit the chin in front of the dugout and soared into the air, and catcher Hyungjun Kim quickly caught it before it hit the ground.
The moment when it seemed that if the ball went into the dugout, LG could get one more base. However, after the agreement, the referees acknowledged the situation with the 2nd, 2nd and 3rd bases as they were. LG director Yeom Gyeong-yeop immediately appealed to me, but it was not overturned.
Later, when Ryu Jin-wook gave a walk to Oh Ji-hwan, NC made a strong effort to put right-hander finisher Lee Yong-chan early. Lee Yong-chan led Bo-gyeong Moon to a ground ball from second baseman, and in the bottom of the 9th inning, he made a tripartite inning to protect NC’s 5-3 victory.
Like this, in the match between NC and LG on the 27th, there were several scenes that are difficult to see once a year. Park Min-woo, who led NC to victory by posting 4 hits and 3 RBIs in 5 at-bats that day, said after the game, “The atmosphere on the ground was a bit strong. The players felt the same way. So when he changed pitchers, he said, ‘It’s really bloody,’ with the infielders gathered together.” Indeed, on the 27th, Changwon NC Park was ‘chaos of chaos’ itself.