Ho-young Son’s sprint to third base was a strong desire for victory
He gave it his all, until his legs gave out, and it was this single sprint that led to his team’s longest losing streak ever.
Son Ho-young, the “belly” infielder of the Lotte Giants of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO), led the team to end its five-game losing streak with a single hit at a crucial moment. Son Ho-young started at third base in the №5 spot against the Kiwoom Heroes at Sajik Stadium in Busan on Feb. 2 and went 2-for-3 with a home run, three RBIs and two runs scored to lead the team to a 6–5 victory.
Son Ho-young came through in the clutch for his team. Down 1–4 to start the fifth inning, Park Seung-wook and Yoon Dong-hee singled to put runners on first and third, and Na Seung-yeop singled to cut the deficit to 2–4. With runners on first and second, Reyes and Jeon Jun-woo singled to center field. It looked like a big inning. But Reyes hit an infield fly to second base and Jeon struck out, leaving runners on first and second. The pressure was now on Son Ho-young.
But Son desperately swung the bat. With runners on second and third and a one-pitch count, Son took a 120-kilometer slider from Kim In-beom and launched it over the left-field wall for a three-run home run, tying the game at 5–4 and relieving his frustration.
However, they tied the game again in the top of the sixth inning and the game went into a lull. Eventually, Son Ho-young 토토 came through again. In the bottom of the eighth inning, the leadoff hitter hit a triple to the top of the center field wall against Kim Jae-woong of Kiwoom. Kiwoom’s defense was relatively smooth, but Son wasted no time in sprinting around second base to third. Son made it safely to third base and scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly to center field by Go Seung-min.
After the game, Son said, “As soon as I hit it, I thought it was going to hit the fence. I’ve never hit it over the center field fence before, so I didn’t think about it going over,” said Son. “I was just thinking about getting to third base.”
“I sprinted to third base for the first time in a long time, so I was surprised when my legs loosened up at the end,” he laughs. “I think every player is the same, but I wanted to win so badly, and it worked out well,” he says.
The home run in the fifth inning came in a situation where the previous hitters had put the pressure on Son. “I was under pressure, too. There were many games where I didn’t score recently, so I wanted to score unconditionally. That was the only thing on my mind, so I focused more on it.”
Son, who was traded from LG on March 30, has become an indispensable player in the Lotte infield. From now on, all of his records are career-highs. “I didn’t originally have a goal, but now I want to play in every game,” he said, adding, “I will work hard unconditionally from now on. The players tell each other that the only way is to work hard. So I want to play more winning matches in the future,” he said.
