The top-ranked LG Twins held off the Kiwoom Heroes in the bottom of the 12th inning with a game-tying infield single by Jeong Ju-hyun to extend their winning streak to seven games.
LG won its 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League home game against Kiwoom 5-4 in 12 extra innings at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on Wednesday.
The win extended LG’s winning streak to seven games, dating back to July 27 against the Suwon KT Wiz. It was the first time in 389 days that LG had won seven straight games since July 3 last year against the Jamsil Lotte Giants and July 10 against the Jamsil Doosan Bears.
With 56 wins, 2 losses and 33 draws, LG also extended its lead over second-place SSG Landers (50 wins, 1 loss and 38 draws), which lost to KT Wiz, to 5.5 games.
Kiwoom (41W3L54D), on the other hand, fell into a five-game losing streak after a lack of backup.
Determined to end their losing streak, Kiwoom unleashed a fierce attack in the first inning.
Two batters later, Ronnie Dawson singled and stole second and Song Sung-moon walked to lead off the inning before Lee hit a changeup from Casey Kelly over the right field fence. Lee Joo-hyung, who joined LG in 2020, donned the Kiwoom uniform via trade on July 29 and hit his first professional home run in his fifth game with the club.
Kiwoom gave up a run in the bottom of the first inning when shortstop Kim Hye-sung made a throwing error on Austin Dean’s grounder to second base.
Kiwoom then scored one run in the top of the fourth and LG scored one in the bottom of the fifth to make it a two-run game.
LG’s inability to close the gap was exacerbated by the fact that manager Yeom Kyung-yup was ejected from the game in the bottom of the fifth inning for protesting against the umpire when Park Dong-won was called out for fielding interference at third base on a video review.
However, LG, who were without their captain, took the lead in the bottom of the ninth inning. After leadoff hitter Moon Bo-kyung drew a walk, Park Dong-won hit a tying two-run shot off reliever Lim Chang-min. After hitting 13 home runs through May and then just two in June and July, Park saved the day with a crucial home run at a crucial time.
The resurgent LG breathed a sigh of relief after Jeong Woo-young worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the 12th inning, and then scored a dramatic game-winning run in the bottom of the 12th.
Hong Chang-ki walked, Moon Sung-joo singled and Kim Hyun-soo grounded into an infield single to put runners on second and third. Jung Ju-hyun then hit a line drive to the side of the infield against Yang Hyun and made a head-first slide to first base. Shortstop Kim Joo-hyung threw to first base, but Jung’s hand reached the base first. Jung’s third career walk-off hit.
KT completed a three-game sweep with a 3-1 home win over SSG at Katwiz Park in Suwon.
Extending its winning streak to six games, fourth-place KT (47-2, 43 points) eliminated the gap between itself and third-place Doosan (46-1, 42 points), which is tied with the Hanwha Eagles.
Starting pitcher Uhm Sang-baek pitched seven innings of six-hit ball with two walks and five strikeouts to earn his fifth win of the season. Park Young-hyun, who came on in the top of the eighth, pitched a scoreless inning to record his 20th save of the season.
After giving up a leadoff single to Choo Shin-soo in the top of the third, KT turned the tide in the bottom of the fifth.
With two outs, Anthony Alford and Byung-ho Park hit back-to-back singles to tie the game at 1-1. Jang Sung-woo then drew a straight bunt to load the bases, and Hwang Jae-gyun followed with a two-run single to make it 3-1.
The NC Dinos won the Nakdong River Derby against Lotte 8-1 at Sajik Stadium in Busan.
After falling behind 0-1 through five innings against Lotte starter Park Se-woong, NC’s bats exploded in the top of the sixth.
Back-to-back singles by Son As-seop and Park Min-woo, followed by a two-run double by Park Gun-woo, tied the game at 1-1. With runners on second and third, Jason Martin hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score the game-winning run. The next batter, Kwon Hee-dong, took advantage of Park Se-woong’s first pitch and lined a single to center field to make it 3-1.
After scoring a run in the top of the eighth, NC scored four more runs in the top of the ninth, combining five hits and an intentional walk to make it 8-1.
Sohn pounded out five hits, including a triple, a home run and two RBIs, raising her season batting average to .332, good for first in the conference.
NC starting pitcher Taylor Widener improved to 4-2 on the season with seven innings of four-hit ball, eight strikeouts and one earned run.
With the 1-2 losses in the three-game series, seventh-place Lotte is now 42-47 and 3.5 games back of fifth-place NC (45-1, 43-43).
The Hanwha Eagles won 5-2 against the Doosan Bears in Daejeon behind Kim Tae-yeon’s game-winning two-run homer. With the win, Hanwha snapped a four-game losing streak and moved within two games of seventh-place Lotte with 38 wins, 4 losses and 47 ties.
After Kim Tae-yeon’s two-run homer in the first inning, Hanwha added a run in the bottom of the fourth on Oh Sun-jin’s infield single with runners on second and third.
In the top of the seventh, starting pitcher Felix Peña suddenly struggled with his pitches, throwing three out of four pitches to load the bases, but reliever Kim Bum-soo saved the day with one out.
With runners on first and second in the bottom of the seventh, Lee Do-yoon hit a two-run triple to put the game out of reach.
Peña lasted 6 1/3 innings, allowing one run on four hits with three walks and six strikeouts to earn the win over Raul Alcantara, who gave up three runs on six hits (one home run) with two walks and five strikeouts in six innings. Peña improved to 8-5 on the season, while Alcantara fell to 5-5.
In a wild game at Pohang Stadium, the KIA Tigers defeated the last-place Samsung Lions 12-8.
KIA is within striking distance of a five-game winning streak with a 42-1 record and a 43-43 record, while also holding a one-sided 8-2 advantage in the season series against Samsung.
Trailing 3-4 in the top of the sixth inning, KIA scored six runs in the bottom of the inning in a batting order to come back. KIA then gave up three runs in the bottom of the seventh due to a shaky bullpen, but Choi Hyung-woo’s infield sacrifice fly and Socrates Brito’s RBI triple in the top of the ninth ended Samsung’s chances.
Choi and Socrates both had three hits apiece. Kim Do-young went 5-for-4 with a home run, a walk, an RBI and three runs scored, 고스톱 while Park Chan-ho also went 5-for-4 with a home run, an RBI and two runs scored.
