KBO Recap: Samsung Lions 9-7 Lotte Giants | July 31 Highlights & Scores

Samsung Lions Hold Off Late Giants Rally to Secure Road Victory

The Samsung Lions escaped Sajik Stadium with a 9-7 victory over the Lotte Giants on Thursday night, surviving a furious ninth-inning comeback attempt to maintain their grip on second place. It was the kind of win that doesn’t feel particularly clean—Samsung allowed a pair of inherited runners to score, burned through five relievers, and watched the Giants claw their way back into contention late. But Won Tae-in’s gutsy six-and-two-thirds innings set the tone early, and when the moment mattered most, the Lions’ offense proved just deep enough.

The game took shape quickly. Jeon Byung-woo’s two-run homer off Lotte starter Kim Jin-wook in the second inning gave Samsung an early cushion. From there, it became a study in accumulation—nothing particularly dramatic, just steady hits and timely baserunning that added up to a four-run advantage heading into the middle innings. Kang Min-ho, who delivered the go-ahead single in the sixth, finished the night with two hits in limited at-bats, while Gu Ja-uk collected three hits and drove in a pair.

Lotte’s pitching staff unraveled in the sixth. With Samsung holding a 3-1 lead, Kim Jin-wook departed after five innings—he’d been solid enough with six strikeouts on four hits through five—but his replacement, Iimura, lasted only one-third of an inning. Iimura entered with runners in scoring position and couldn’t locate anything. Six hits and six runs later, the Giants found themselves staring at a 9-1 deficit. The damage included that Kang single through the middle with runners on the corners, a backbreaker that proved decisive by game’s end.

What made things interesting was that Lotte refused to go quietly. The Giants chipped away with a run in the fourth on a Yoon Dong-hee double, then rallied genuinely in the seventh and eighth innings as their hitters began connecting off Samsung’s bullpen. By the time closer Lee Seung-min took over in the ninth, the Lions’ lead had shrunk to just two runs and Lotte had momentum. Lee, though, was sharp when it mattered—striking out one and escaping without damage to preserve the save.

Won Tae-in improved to 6-5 with a solid, if not spectacular, effort. He struck out five and walked just one while scattering nine hits across his outing. He wasn’t overpowering—a few of those hits found grass—but he kept the Giants’ scoring in check when it counted most. Jang Chan-hee, a long reliever who entered in the eighth, struck out two in a scoreless frame and set the table for Lee’s save situation.

Jeon’s home run, his seventh of the season, proved to be the difference-maker. It came at a moment when Samsung needed to capitalize after Kim Jin-wook had limited early damage. Diaz contributed a double later in the game, and Kang’s late-inning heroics added to the Lions’ total in ways that wouldn’t show up spectacularly in the box score but turned out to be everything when Lotte made their ninth-inning push.

For Lotte, Yoon Dong-hee was their most consistent threat, collecting three hits. Reyes added two more, and despite the loss, the Giants’ offense showed signs of life in the latter stages. Han Dong-hee and Na Seung-yeop each drove in a run, evidence that on another night—with better pitching earlier—this could have gone the other way.

The turning point came in the sixth when Samsung’s offense overwhelmed a Giants bullpen that simply wasn’t prepared for the onslaught. Iimura’s brief, disastrous appearance was the worst of it, but Lotte’s pitching depth got tested repeatedly as Samsung cycled through the lineup. Kang Min-ho’s single was the punctuation mark on an inning that essentially locked the game away.

Samsung’s second-place position seems secure for now at 59-2-39. The Lions have built enough breathing room in the standings that a road win like this, even a messy one, keeps them tracking toward their objectives. Lotte, sitting in eighth at 44-2-54, needs results to turn around soon before the gap becomes insurmountable.