‘Have you ever seen a bullpen day like this?’ There was a reason for LG’s come-from-behind win No. 42

 The LG Twins' 'invincible' bullpen produced the first win in the Korean Series.

The biggest driving force behind LG's dramatic comeback victory of 5 to 4 in the second game of the Korean Series against KT held in Jamsil on the 8th was the 'bee swarm' bullpen developed by manager Yeom Kyung-yeop during the regular season.

In a critical situation where starting pitcher Choi Won-tae was shockingly shut out in the top of the first inning and gave up 4 runs, LG gave the batters a chance to catch up by having 7 bullpen pitchers block the KT batting lineup without giving up a single run. LG trailed by 3-4, 1 run, with Austin's timely hit in the 3rd inning, Oh Ji-hwan's solo shot in the 6th, and Kim Hyun-soo's double in the 7th, and succeeded in coming back to 5-4 with Park Dong-won's come-from-behind two-run shot in the bottom of the 8th.

It was a touching moment, exactly 21 years after the 8-7 victory in Game 5 of the Korean Series against the Samsung Lions held in Jamsil on November 8, 2002.

When Choi Won-tae looked anxious, Coach Yeom quickly prepared Lee Jeong-yong, and showed boldness by ordering a replacement as soon as the fifth batter, Jang Seong-woo, allowed a two-run double. After Lee Jeong-yong blocked the pitch until the second inning, the bullpen started in earnest from the third inning.

Normally in games like this, other teams would have long relief, but LG was different. Jung Woo-young appeared immediately in the third episode. It was hard to imagine last year's hold king, Jung Woo-young, appearing in the third episode, but LG pushed hard.

Since they had already lost the first game, a second loss in a row would make the series difficult, and since it was early in the game, they needed to prevent runs and wait for the batters. This was possible because LG had a wealth of winning team members. Following Jung Woo-young, Kim Jin-seong, Baek Seung-hyun, Yoo Young-chan, Ham Deok-ju, and Ko Woo-seok came out one after another and blocked the KT batting lineup without giving a single point. It became more and more powerful. In particular, after Yoo Young-chan took the mound in the bottom of the 5th inning with 2 outs and runners on 1st and 2nd base, KT's 13 batters, including Ham Deok-ju and Ko Woo-seok, showed a helpless appearance as none of the 13 batters reached base and all retired with a hit. As the bullpen blocked the pitch completely, LG's batting line burned even more.

Coach Yeom worked hard to improve the bullpen at the start of this season. As Go Woo-seok and Jung Woo-young were likely to participate in this year's Asian Games, pitchers were needed to fill their gaps. During the training camp in Arizona, 26 of the 46 players, more than half, were taken as pitchers and were personally inspected to select pitchers to be used in the first team.

As a result, we were able to acquire new fastball bullpen pitchers in Yoo Young-chan, Baek Seung-hyun, and Park Myung-geun, and with the addition of Ham Deok-ju, who returned from injury, and veteran Kim Jin-seong, we were able to build an incredible eight-member winning team with the existing Go Woo-seok, Jung Woo-young, and Lee Jeong-yong.

Entering the Korean Series, many experts evaluated that LG was behind KT in the starting battle. Of course it was true. However, LG had a quantitatively and qualitatively rich bullpen, and in fact, thanks to this bullpen, they were able to achieve 42 comeback wins, the most this season.

Heading into the Korean Series, Coach Yeom was cautious about using the bullpen. In a crisis situation with runners on base, veterans with Korean Series experience such as Lee Jeong-yong, Ham Deok-joo, and Kim Jin-seong will be brought in, and in situations where there is room and there are no runners, Jung Woo-young, Baek Seung-hyun, Yoo Young-chan, etc. will be brought in to gradually gain experience in big games.

And after a shocking comeback loss in the first game, when the team was down 0-4 with 4 runs in the top of the first inning of the second game, they came out one by one and blocked KT's hard-hitting line with the defenders. LG's bullpen proved once again that it is 'impregnable'. Coach Yeom said after the game, "I thought the young bullpen would have difficulties due to lack of experience, but after having a good experience today, I was able to use players like Wooyoung, Youngchan, and Seunghyeon more boldly for the rest of the season."

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