LG has surpassed Ko Young-pyo and secured the top spot, 6.5 games behind 2nd-place KT.
The LG Twins, seeking their first regular-season title in baseball in 29 years, took another step toward Sookwon by widening the gap between themselves and second place.
LG rode the cannons of Oh Ji-hwan and Park Dong-won and a strong outing from starter Lee Jung-yong to an 11-4 victory over visiting KT Wiz in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Katie Wiz Park in Suwon on Sunday.
First-place LG wrapped up its midweek three-game series with second-place KT with two wins and one loss to widen the gap between the two teams to 6.5 games.
With only 29 games left in the regular season, LG has an advantage over KT with only three games left to clinch first place.
Trailing 0-2 in the third inning, LG put runners on first and third with a double by Moon Sung-joo and an infield single by Park Hae-min.
Park advanced to second on a stolen base, and Hong Chang-ki hit a two-run double to tie the game.
Trailing 2-3 again in the fourth inning, Oh tied the game with a single to center field, and Moon Sung-joo followed with an infield single to put runners on first and third.
In the top of the sixth inning, Oh hit his fifth home run of the season, a two-run shot that completely demolished KT starter Ko Young-pyo.
Unable to withstand the LG bats, Ko was charged with six runs on 10 hits in six innings, marking the first time this season that he failed to complete two consecutive quality starts (at least six innings and no more than three earned runs).
LG stole five bases while Ko was on the mound and used their quick feet to rattle the opposition.
With momentum on their side, LG scored four runs in the eighth inning when Park Dong-won hit his 19th home run of the season, and four more in the ninth on an error and two pushed balls to seal the win.
LG third baseman Moon Bo-kyung, who had given up the game-winning hit the previous day when he failed to handle Hwang Jae-gyun’s high-bound grounder with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning, went 4-for-3 with a double, a walk, two runs scored and a stolen base.
LG starter Lee Jung-yong struggled with nine hits and two walks in six innings, but minimized the damage with two runs to pick up his seventh win of the season (1-1).
In Jamsil, the Doosan Bears snapped the KIA Tigers’ 10-game winning streak with a 3-0 victory.
With the win, sixth-ranked Doosan snapped a two-game losing streak and moved to within three games of fifth-ranked Kia.
It’s been about two weeks since Doosan won at Jamsil Stadium, as they defeated SSG Landers on March 25.
With Choi Won-jun and Yang Hyeon-jong in the starting lineup, Doosan took an early lead.
Doosan took the lead in the bottom of the second inning when Yang Seok-hwan led off with a solo home run to left field off KIA starter Yang Hyun-jong.
In the fourth inning, Heo Kyung-min, who reached on an error, followed up with a ground ball to make it 2-0.
In the seventh inning, with a precarious 2-0 lead, Cho Soo-hyun led off with a walk and was brought in by pinch-hitter Kim In-tae with a single to right to make it 3-0.
Kia’s scattered six-hit performance halted Pajuk’s nine-game winning streak.
They failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities, including runners on second and first in the fifth, runners on first and second in the sixth, runners on second and first in the eighth, and runners on first and second with no outs in the ninth.
For Doosan, starter Choi Won-jun tossed five innings of four-hit shutout ball, followed by Kim Myung-shin, Kim Kang-ryul, Park Chi-guk and Jeong Chul-won.
KIA starter Yang Hyun-jong pitched well until the sixth inning, allowing one run on five hits with four strikeouts, but the offense fell silent and he took the loss.
Despite the loss, Yang reached 103 strikeouts on the season, becoming only the third pitcher in history to reach 100 strikeouts in nine consecutive years.
In Changwon, the NC Dinos defeated the Kiwoom Heroes 6-1 behind the cohesiveness of their bats.
With their third straight win, NC moved into third place, ahead of the SSG Landers, who lost on the day.
NC took advantage of Kiwoom starter Jang Jae-young’s wobbly delivery in the top of the first inning to take a 2-0 lead when Oh Young-soo hit a two-run double with two outs on three pitches.
After Do Tae-hoon drew a walk to load the bases again, NC made it 4-0 when Kim Hyung-joon singled to right to bring in two runners.
After scoring a run in the second inning on a sacrifice fly by Jae-Hwan Lee with the bases loaded, NC added another run in the fourth inning on a sacrifice fly by Park Gun-Woo to extend its lead to 6-0.
Kiwoom avoided the sweep with a solo home run by Lee Ju-hyung in the top of the ninth inning.
In Daejeon, the Hanwha Eagles came from behind to beat the SSG Landers 4-3 behind the bat of Chae Eun-sung.
Hanwha scored the first run in the bottom of the fourth inning when Noh Si-hwan doubled and Chae Eun-sung followed with a single to right-center.
SSG cut the deficit to 2-1 in the top of the fifth inning when Choi Ju-hwan and Park Sung-sung singled to put runners on first and third with no outs, and Hanwha pitcher Felix Peña threw out Kim Sung-hyun at first base on a sacrifice bunt.
With runners on first and third, Choi Ji-hoon’s infield grounder scored a run to make it 3-1.
However, Hanwha came back in the bottom of the seventh.
With runners on second and third, Hanwha scored a run on a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Moon Hyun-bin and then tied the game at 3-3 when pinch-hitter Nick Williams singled up the middle.
Chae Eun-sung followed with an RBI single to make it 4-3.
With the win in hand, Hanwha brought in closer Park Sang-won in the top of the ninth and struck out the side to end the game.
With their second straight loss, 먹튀검증 SSG dropped to third place behind NC and dropped to fourth for the first time since April 19.