It’s a heartbreaker for the LG Twins.
LG Twins’ six-game winning streak came to an end in a heartbreaking reverse.
LG took a 5-2 lead against the Hanwha Eagles at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon on Thursday, but gave up one run in the seventh inning and then scored six runs in the eighth inning to lose 5-9.
LG, which failed to win its sixth straight game, was fortunate that the first-place KIA Tigers came from behind to beat the Kiwoom Heroes 2-1, keeping its four-game lead intact. However, the loss was even more disappointing as it would have cut the deficit to three games and set up a three-game weekend series.
The top of the eighth and the bottom of the eighth were disappointing
In the top of the eighth inning, LG missed a chance to score another run, and in the bottom of the eighth inning, they gave up a big run that could have stopped Hanwha’s momentum.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Kim Jin-sung gave up three consecutive singles to score a run, leaving LG trailing 5-3 and down by two runs. The crisis continued with runners on first and third base. However, Jang Jin-hyuk was thrown out trying to steal second base, which quickly cooled down the excitement. Kim Jin-seong settled down and got Lee Do-yoon to fly out to shortstop, and Peraza grounded out to second base.
In the top of the eighth inning, Park Dong-won led off with a single to left and was immediately replaced by Choi Won-young, who was tagged out trying to steal second base when Park Hae-min came to bat. Park Hae-min then drew a walk to load the bases again. Koo Bon-hyuk laid down a bunt single to put runners on first and second again.
However, Hong Chang-ki and Shin Min-jae, the two most trusted batters, struck out in succession to end the inning.
LG brought up Lee Ji-gang in the bottom of the eighth to try and shut down the Hanwha bats, but he was not enough. They put themselves in a tough spot when they gave up a leadoff walk to Moon Hyun-bin, who promptly hit a double to right-center field to Kim Tae-yeon, who came home to cut the deficit to 4-5, 1 run. LG manager Yeom Kyung-yup immediately replaced him with Kim Young-joon, but Kim is a pitcher with little experience in the closer’s role who has no holds this season.
He gave up a straight bunt single to Noh Si-hwan to put runners on first and second. Then, in the fifth, Chae Eun-sung set up for a bunt, but switched to a batting stance on a first-pitch slider and drove it cleanly to right field.
But then something happened. As Kim Tae-yeon was rounding third base and running home, the third base coach gave a stop sign. Kim Tae-yeon stopped and ran back to third base. Noh Si-hwan, the first baseman, thought Kim Tae-yeon was 사설 토토사이트 running to third base and assumed she was running home. With two runners on third base, Kim Tae-yeon ran home again.
However, the LG defenders didn’t realize this. Right fielder Hong Chang-ki caught the ball and threw it to shortstop Oh Ji-hwan, who was a cut man and was looking at the umpires to ask for time. Kim Tae-yeon then threw the ball to Hong Chang-gi, who immediately ran home to score.
The throw was so fast that everyone actually thought that the runner at second base was going to run home and be safe due to the timing. Not only Hong Chang-ki, but all of the LG defenders thought so too. In addition, Noh Si-hwan was also running to third base, so Kim Tae-yeon’s home run blocking was obvious. The moment Kim Tae-yeon stopped. All the defenders in the LG infield were looking toward Hong Chang-ki, so they didn’t realize that Kim Tae-yeon had stopped.
If one of the umpires had seen that Kim was stopped between third base and home and made the call, they could have thrown her out at home, which would have given them a 5-4 lead and a different outcome with runners on first and third or first and second and third.
But no one saw it, and Kim Tae-yeon scored to tie the game at 5-5. Unfortunately, LG had to continue to defend with runners on first and third, and Kim Young-joon was unable to handle the pressure, throwing a changeup that slipped out of his hand and giving up the winning run on a wild pitch before being replaced by Kim Yoo-young, who gave up back-to-back singles to load the bases.