LG Twins Stands Out Defeats KT Wiz Wins 2 Times
LG Twins Stands Out for its "Iron-Walled Fighting", Defeats KT Wiz and Wins 2 Times in a Row... KS Direct ‘Magic Number 1’
Hanwha, which exploded with four home runs and fireworks, Doosan, a busy NC powerhouse with a long way to go, chases down 3rd place NC by half a game… Samsung jumps to 8th place after winning all double headers
The LG Twins are finally on the verge of winning the regular season for the first time in 29 years.
LG won 5-4 in a visiting game against kt wiz in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League held at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on the 2nd, leveraging the cohesion of the batting line amidst an impeccable fight by the bullpen.
1st place LG, who defeated 2nd place KT, also lost 3rd place NC Dinos on this day, finally reducing the "magic number" for winning the regular season to 1.
With 9 games remaining, LG needs just one more win to secure first place in the regular season on its own and advance directly to the Korean Series.
The last time LG took first place in the regular season was in 1994, when it topped the Korean Series.
On this day, LG, who selected rookie Kang Hyo-jong, who was brought up from the second team, as the starter, showed concentration by scoring all of their points after two outs.
In the top of the third inning, with two outs and runners on first and second base, LG took the lead with Park Hae-min"s hit to left, and Kim Hyun-soo hit a two-run hit to right to take a 3-0 lead.
After changing offense and defense, Anthony Alford hit a two-run home run to the left to go up 2-3.
However, LG scored 1 run in the top of the 5th inning while KT"s second pitcher Ha Jun-ho threw 3 walks and 2 wild pitches and ran away with a 4-2 score.
In the 7th inning, with 2 outs and runners on 1st and 2nd bases, Oh Ji-hwan added 1 point with a double to the right field, widening the lead to 5-2 and winning the game.
KT scored 1 run in the bottom of the 8th inning with Kim Sang-soo"s double with 1st and 2nd bases out and no outs, and with 1 out and bases loaded, Hwang Jae-gyun drew a walk to go up 4-5.
However, with the bases loaded and one out, Alford hit a double play, destroying any chance of a comeback.
For LG, starter Kang Hyo-jong went down after allowing 2 runs in 3? innings, but Lee Woo-chan (? inning), Park Myung-geun (1 inning), Choi Dong-hwan (1 inning), Baek Seung-hyun (1 inning), Kim Dae-hyun (0 inning), and Kim Jin-seong (2 inning) followed.
He threw and blocked KT"s pursuit until the end.
In Daejeon, the Hanwha Eagles hit 4 home runs and defeated 3rd place NC 10-0.
Hanwha scored first with Nick Williams" double in the top of the first inning.
In the third inning, with no outs on first and second base, Moon Hyun-bin added one run with a right-handed hit, and after one out, Williams hit a three-run home run to immediately go up 5-0.
In the 5th inning, Hanwha hit a 2-run home run, and in the 7th inning, following Lee Jin-young"s solo home run, Chae Eun-seong hit a 2-run homer in succession to take a 10-0 lead, deciding the game.
Hanwha starter Felix Peña recorded his 11th win (10th loss) of the season by striking out 9 batters and allowing 3 hits and no runs in 6 innings.
Hanwha veteran pitcher Jeong Woo-ram set a record of appearing in 1,000 games for the first time in the KBO League by striking out the first batter he came on the mound in the top of the 7th inning.
In Jamsil, Doosan Bears defeated Kiwoom Heroes 7-2.
In the bottom of the first inning, Doosan had the bases loaded with one out and three outs, then Yang Seok-hwan hit a double that hit Jang Jae-young to take a 2-0 lead.
Jang Jae-young, who hit his head on a batted ball, was replaced and Yoon Seok-won took the mound, but Doosan added 2 points with Kim Jae-hwan"s sacrifice fly and Kang Seung-ho"s timely hit to run away with a 4-0 lead.
In the 3rd inning, Park Joon-young hit a 2-RBI double, and Doosan added 1 run in the 6th inning to take a big lead of 7-0.
Kiwoom was only able to make up for 2 runs in the top of the 9th inning thanks to Lim Ji-yeol"s timely hit.
Doosan starter Brandon Waddell pitched 6 innings, allowing 3 hits and no runs, earning his 10th win (3 losses).
4th place Doosan, which had recently won 8 games in a row against Kiwoom, caught up with 3rd place NC by half a game.
In Busan, where the double header was weak, the Samsung Lions defeated Lotte 9-8 in the first game and then won the second game 8-6.
Samsung, which added two wins in one day, surpassed Hanwha and moved up one place to 8th place.
Samsung took a 6-3 lead in the first game when Kang Min-ho hit a 3-run home run to the left in the top of the 5th inning.
In the 6th inning, with 2 outs and runners on second base, Jae-Hyeon Lee"s double followed by Ja-Wook Koo"s two-run home run to take the lead to 9-3.
Lotte made up for 4 runs in the bottom of the 7th inning with 5 hits, including Jeon Jun-woo"s double, and then in the 8th inning, Nico Goodrum hit a timely hit to trail the score at 8-9, but was unable to turn it around.
In the second game, Lotte scored 3 points in the bottom of the 4th inning with the score tied 2-2 and took a 5-2 lead due to an opponent"s mistake.
However, Samsung took advantage of Lotte"s mistake in the top of the 5th inning and came back with 3 hits and 2 walks, scoring 4 points and winning 6-5.
After both teams traded 1 point each in the 6th inning, Samsung took the win by adding 1 point in the top of the 8th inning.
Lotte self-destructed by over-firing 14 dead balls.