Seoul: Starter Charlie Barnes tossed seven innings of one-run ball and the offense pounded out 17 hits, as the Lotte Giants breezed past the Kiwoom Heroes 9-3 for a road victory in Seoul on Tuesday. Barnes allowed only two hits while striking out six, and his teammates backed him up with a couple of three-run innings at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. The Giants improved to 17-13-1 (wins-losses-ties), and the last-place Heroes dropped to 11-21-0.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the teams exchanged blows early. Ruben Cardenas put the Heroes on the board with a solo home run off Barnes in the bottom of the first. The blast to the seats in left field was Cardenas' first home run of April. The Giants punched right back with three runs off starter Kim Yun-ha in the top of the second. After a single, a walk and a sacrifice bunt put runners at second and third, Yoo Kang-nam cashed in both men with a double to left and put the Giants up 2-1. Yoo moved to third on a follow-up single and then scored on a groundout by Hwang Seong-bin for a 3-1 Giants lead.
The two starters then traded zeroes for a good stretch. Barnes, in particular, did not give up a hit for five innings after the first-inning home run, with only two men reaching base via a walk and a fielding error by first baseman Na Seung-yeup. Kim pitched around a hit in the third and again in the fourth inning, and then escaped a two-out, two-on trouble in the fifth. Kim then wiggled his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, retiring Go Seung-min on a grounder after giving up two singles and a walk.
Though Kim kept the Heroes in the game, his teammates couldn't touch Barnes, who retired 12 straight batters at one point. Barnes got three groundouts in the second and struck out two in the third, one in the fourth, and two more in the fifth. The Giants added to their lead in the seventh inning with Kim out of the game. Victor Reyes greeted the new pitcher Oh Seok-joo with a double to right-center field, and two batters later, Yoon Dong-hee brought him home with a double to left-center gap for a 4-1 lead. Jeon Jun-woo hit the Giants' third double of the inning to chase Oh from the game. With runners at second and third, Son Ho-young lined a two-run single off reliever Yang Ji-yul that gave the Giants a 6-1 cushion.
Yang walked a batter and then hit Jeon Min-jae -- the league leader with a .378 batting average entering Tuesday -- in the helmet to load the bases. Jeon was stretchered off in an ambulance while covering his face in a towel. The Giants later said the extent of Jeon's injury won't be known until after he undergoes further tests Wednesday. The Heroes finally got their second hit off Barnes with one out in the seventh but nothing came out of it. The Giants then tacked on two runs in the top eighth with Na's double and Jeon's single. The Heroes scored twice in the bottom eighth, only to see the Giants score a run in the top ninth.
Barnes improved to 3-4 this season and two of those three wins have come against the Heroes. His ERA went down from 5.67 to 4.91. "Barnes gave us a quality start over seven innings," Giants manager Kim Tae-hyoung said. "Yoo Kang-nam's two-run hit put us ahead right after we gave up the first run. Our hitters were locked in and scored runs when we had to."