Busan's Lotte Giants and the greatest KBO comeback that never was

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Busan's Lotte Giants and the greatest KBO comeback that never was

Published: 26 Jun. 2024, 08:27 Updated: 26 Jun. 2024, 16:55

JIM BULLEY
jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr

The Lotte Giants on Tuesday pulled off the greatest comeback in KBO history, coming from a seemingly impossible 14-1 down to take a 15-14 lead. And then the Kia Tigers scored again.

It was a warm midweek evening in Busan as over 19,000 people took their seats at Sajik Baseball Stadium for what would go on to be a 5 hour and 20 minute slog, those fans that stuck it out not getting to leave the ground until minutes before midnight.

Those fans were rewarded with a chance to see history made — and then unmade — as Busan pulled back the single greatest comeback in KBO history, only to lose that lead again just one inning later.

Things started badly for the Giants fans. The Tigers kicked off the away leg with a two-run Socrates Brito homer and then piled on with four more runs at the top of the first, the Giants clawing one back at the bottom of the inning for a 5-1 deficit before many of those fans had finished the pre-game fried chicken run.

Kia, currently the league leaders, piled on in the second with three more as the Giants pulled starter Na Gyun-an, who had managed to give up seven hits, eight earned runs and six walks in his one and two third innings of work.

The third inning was quiet, Kia only putting up one run, before the Gwangju club piled on again in the fourth with five more across the plate to take a 14-1 lead in only four innings.

And then Lotte rallied. And they rallied hard.

The comeback started immediately, the Giants scoring six at the bottom of the fourth — thanks in no small part to a Go Seung-min grand slam — bringing the score to 14-7 and taking the total number of runs scored to 21, still within just four innings.

The Giants’ bullpen then held the Tigers quiet for the next three innings as they chipped away at the lead. Two runs at the bottom of the fifth made it 14-9, three at the bottom of the sixth — all crossing the plate on a Jung Hoon home run — made it 14-12, and then three more in the seventh pushing the score to 15-14 and giving the Giants one of the most improbable comebacks in baseball history.

And then, at the top of the eighth, the Tigers tied things up again.

Now tied, the Giants fought on for four more grueling innings to try and reclaim their spot in the history books. The game ran the full 12 innings the KBO requires for a tie to be declared, ending at 11:50 p.m. with 30 runs scored off 36 hits as 14 pitchers threw a combined 471 pitches.

Had Lotte been able to hold on for the win, it would have been the greatest comeback the KBO had ever seen by some margin.

The greatest come-from-behind win the KBO has ever seen was in 2013, when the SK Wyverns — now the SSG Landers — fought back from 11-1 down to beat the Doosan Bears 13-12. In the Majors, teams have overcome 12-run deficits on three occasions, in 2021, 1925 and 1911.

Had they pulled it off, the Giants would have come back from 13 down, surpassing both records.

But the Giants won’t get much time to stop and reflect on what could have been. Tuesday’s game kicked off a three-game home stand for the Busan club, with both teams set to return to Sajik on Wednesday evening as of press time for game No. 2.

The Tigers currently hold a 2.5 game lead on the 10-team KBO table, while the Giants trail by 11.5 games in eighth place.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]