At this point, it’s safe to call them the masters of upsets. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) has come from behind to win another game and solidify its league lead.
LG won its seventh straight game on Wednesday, coming from behind to beat No. 9 Kiwoom 5-4 in 12 extra innings at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul. With its 56th win of the season (2 ties, 33 losses), LG extended its lead over second-place SSG, which lost to KT earlier in the day, to 5.5 games. Including this win, half of LG’s total wins this season (28) have come from behind.
LG baseball’s catcher Park Dong-won, right, celebrates with teammate Moon Bo-kyung after hitting a two-run home run with the bases loaded to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth inning against visiting Kiwoom at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on Wednesday.
Trailing 2-4 after giving up four runs in the fourth inning, LG tied the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth when catcher Park Dong-won (33) hit a two-run home run (his 16th of the season) to left field off Lim Chang-min (38-Kiwoom) with the bases loaded. Go Woo-seok (25), Ham Deok-ju (28) and Jung Woo-young (24) pitched one scoreless inning each in the extra innings to set the stage for the comeback.
The game-winning hit came from Jeong Ju-hyun (33-LG). Chung, who started the day at first base as the No. 4 hitter, was substituted for Austin’s (30) pinch-hitter, Choi Seung-min (27), in the top of the 11th inning. In the bottom of the 12th inning, with runners on second and third, Jeong took a six-pitch two-seam fastball from reliever Yang Hyun (31) toward the shortstop and made a head-first slide to get to first base before the ball, producing an infield hit. In the meantime, Hong Chang-ki (30), who was on third base, raced home to score the game-winning run.
“Park Dong-won’s tying home run united the players, and Jeong Joo-hyun’s infield hit with a hustle play at the end won the game,” said LG coach Yeom Kyung-yeop (55). “I want to praise the entire team for their gritty play to the end.”
Fourth-ranked KT extended its winning streak to six games with a 3-1 come-from-behind victory over second-place SSG at Suwon Stadium. KT moved to within one point (0.522) of third-place Doosan (46 wins, 1 draw, 42 losses – win percentage 0.523), who lost to Hanwha earlier in the day.
KT has allowed a total of just seven runs during its recent six-game winning streak. The winning streak began on March 28 against the Changwon NC, where starting pitcher Uhm Sang-baek (27) pitched six innings of two-run ball to lead the team to a 10-2 victory. KT then scored two runs on the 29th and two runs on the 30th, followed by scoreless wins against SSG on the 1st and 2nd of this month.
Again, KT’s starting pitcher Uhm Sang-baek led the team to victory with seven innings of one-run ball. After falling behind 0-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning, the KT bats rallied to tie the game at 1-1 with Park Byung-ho (37) hitting a single with runners on first and second and Hwang Jae-gyun (36) hitting a two-run double with the bases loaded.
NC defeated Sajik’s defense, Lotte, 8-1. Foreign starter Widener, 29, pitched well with eight strikeouts and one run in seven innings to improve to 4-2 on the season. Trailing 0-1 in the top of the sixth inning, leadoff hitter Son Ah-seob (35) and pinch-hitter Park Min-woo (30) hit back-to-back singles to put runners on first and third with no outs, and then Park Gun-woo (33) drove in Park Se-woong (28-Lotte) to tie the game at 1-1. With runners on second and third, Martin (28) hit a sacrifice fly to center field to take the lead. NC added four more runs in the top of the ninth to take a 4-1 lead and secure the win.
Hanwha snapped a four-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over Dusan in Daejeon. Right fielder Kim Tae-yeon (26), batting third, took advantage of a 0-0 tie in the top of the first inning by smashing a two-run home run (her third of the season) over the left field fence off Dusan starter Alcantara (31). Hanwha’s foreign starter Peña (33) pitched well, striking out six and walking one in six and one-third innings to pick up his eighth win of the season.
KIA defeated Samsung 12-8 in Pohang to wrap up a three-game series against Samsung with a 2-1 series win. KIA rallied from a 1-4 deficit with two runs in the top of the fourth inning to cut the deficit to 3-4, and then scored six runs in the top of the sixth inning, led by a two-run double by leadoff hitter Park Chan-ho (28). After falling behind 9-7 in the top of the ninth, 카지노사이트 KIA added three more runs and sealed the win with a single run in the bottom of the ninth.
