[SPOTV News=Sajik, reporter Park Seung-hwan] Even after deploying their one-two punch of Elvin Rodriguez and Jeremy Biesly, Lotte couldn’t get the win — and the skid grew to five games.
The Lotte Giants fell 6-7 to the SSG Landers in the second meeting of the season series at Sajik Stadium in Busan on April 4, 2026, in the 2026 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League.
Lotte opened the year by sweeping the Samsung Lions and looked poised to carry momentum, but they then dropped three stunning come-from-behind losses to the NC Dinos during the midweek slate. On April 3 they suffered their worst result yet — a 2-17 home-opener loss to SSG — when starter Elvin Rodriguez unraveled early, giving up nine hits (two homers), six walks and eight earned runs in four innings.
The April 4 game started poorly as well. Jeremy Biesly allowed a leadoff double to Park Seong-han and quickly found himself in a first-and-third jam. He induced a grounder toward first off Kim Jae-hwan, but No Jin-hyeok’s misplay — despite being positioned near the bag and with the ball headed his way — prevented a likely double play. Instead, Biesly ended up surrendering four runs in the first inning when he could have escaped without damage. Lotte responded with a three-run bottom of the first and added one in the second to tie it 4-4, but the late innings decided the outcome.
Tied 6-6 in the top of the seventh, Jeong Cheol-won allowed a leadoff hit to An Sang-hyun, then yielded a sacrifice bunt and an RBI advance, leaving two outs with a runner at third. Facing Guillermo Heredia, Jeong worked the count to 2-2 when a 136 km/h slider (about 84.5 mph) caught the middle of the zone on the fifth pitch — either a lapse in judgment or a perfect mistake — and Lotte suddenly trailed 6-7.
Lotte still had chances. In the bottom of the seventh they had two outs with runners on first and second but couldn’t get the hit they needed against veteran No Kyung-eun. The most painful sequence came in the ninth.
Leadoff hitter Hwang Seong-bin sparked the ninth with a hit off SSG closer Jo Byung-hyun. A successful steal put Lotte in scoring position, and a walk to Jeon Jun-woo loaded the bases with runners at first and second. After that walk, Lotte’s win probability climbed to 53.4%.
The bench sent Park Seung-wook out to execute a sacrifice bunt rather than let him swing away. With Jo Byung-hyun visibly off-balance — throwing balls on his first two pitches — the situation looked favorable. Park fouled off his third bunt attempt and failed to lay one down on the fourth, bringing the count to 2-2.
Rather than abandon the bunt plan, Lotte stuck with it — and the third bunt attempt also went foul. That failed bunt sequence dropped Lotte’s win probability by a huge 18.4 percentage points. They still had a 2-out, runners on first and third chance, but they couldn’t cash in.
Yoon Dong-hee chased a 1-1 pitch and lifted Jo Byung-hyun’s 146 km/h (about 90.7 mph) high fastball on the third pitch; the catcher made the catch on the foul popup, and Lotte couldn’t even level the score.
Lotte had multiple clear opportunities to win but failed to convert any of the decisive chances and slipped into a tie for seventh place. At this pace, the Giants’ postseason drought could stretch to nine seasons.
