“I think the coaching staff did a great job of making the players feel comfortable, even though it must have been emotionally draining.”
Superstars shine brighter when their team is in a crunch. Such is the case with SSG franchise star and all-time leading home run hitter Choi Jung (37). He saved the team from a nine-game losing streak.
Choi opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first inning as the No. 3 hitter for the LG Electronics of Munhwa on Tuesday. In the fourth inning, he singled to left field and stole second base to show his teammates that he was determined to end the losing streak, and in the sixth inning, with runners on first and second, he hit the game-winning two-run shot over the center field fence. The home run brought SSG back to within 3-2. It was Choi's 14th of the season. She now has 472 career home runs.
SSG defeated LG, 8-2, to win for the first time in 11 days and snap an eight-game losing streak. After losing the last game, the batters went all out to end the losing streak, including special at-bats.
After the game, Choi said, “I was disappointed that I struggled at the plate recently. In the home run at-bat, I was only thinking about making contact and connecting with Heredia, but my casual swing led to a home run,” said Choi, reflecting on the game-winning hit in the bottom of the sixth inning.
“I've been trying a lot of things to improve my hitting and I had a good feeling from 바카라 yesterday's game. I felt good in training before today's game, and it showed in the game, so I'm happy about that,” he said.
“Even though the team was on a losing streak, we didn't lose heart, but rather treated each game with a new mindset to forget about the losing streak. In particular, Coach Kang Byung-sik gave good mental words to the batters before today's game, so we were able to play without any pressure.” “The coaching staff must have been having a hard time mentally, but they tried to make the players feel comfortable and relaxed, so I think we had a good result today,” he concluded.
Guillermo Heredia also batted well in the No. 4 spot, going 3-for-4 with a home run and an RBI. He scored an insurance run in the sixth inning on an aggressive play at the plate after a leadoff home run.
“First of all, I want to thank the fans for coming to the ballpark despite the team's losing streak,” Heredia said. Losing streaks are part of baseball, but I thought it was my job to play the best I could in every game, and I was only thinking about winning,” he said before the game.
On his aggressive base running in the sixth inning, he said, “I was just running with the mindset that I had to score, and I was lucky enough to score. It feels good. I think the most important thing is that I was able to help the team break the losing streak.”
Heredia added: “I think it's still early in the season. There are many more games to come and I'm determined to stay injury-free and maintain my current pace until the end of the season.”
