Landers keep lead as teams bunch up in the middle of the KBO table

Baseball

Published: 23 May. 2022, 15:48

Landers keep lead as teams bunch up in the middle of the KBO table

Choi Jung, left, and Kevin Cron of the SSG Landers celebrate as the Landers beat the LG Twins 3-1 at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon on Sunday. [YONHAP]

There's little room to breath in the middle of the KBO table this week, with just 1.5 games separating the third through seventh-placed teams while the SSG Landers hold on to first place.

The Landers held on to a four-game lead after facing down both the Doosan Bears, who have dropped down to seventh but at the time were in third, and the second-place LG Twins over the last week.

After taking a 12-inning 9-9 tie on Tuesday, the Landers beat the Bears 5-2 in a tight extra innings game on Wednesday before taking a more comfortable 9-3 win on Thursday. Going into the weekend, the top-ranked club took a tight 5-4 win over the Twins, before losing the Saturday game 4-3 and then taking the rubber match 3-1.

The Twins started their week with a 2-1 series win over the reigning champion KT Wiz, losing a tight opening game 3-2 and then rallying for two big 9-1, 7-3 wins.

Below the Twins things get a little hectic. The Kiwoom Heroes climbed into third place over the weekend, knocking down the Bears and Samsung Lions who had been taking turns in the No. 3 spot for a few days. The Heroes ascent was helped by a weekend series against the last-place Hanwha Eagles, which the Heroes won with two victories on the series.

The Lions and Kia Tigers are now just half a game behind the Heroes in fourth place. The Tigers won two of their three games against the NC Dinos to tie for fourth, while the Lions actually dropped their series against the Wiz, winning a tight 4-3 consolation game on Sunday.

The Giants sit in sixth place, half a game behind the big cats. The Giants took on the Bears over the weekend, winning the opening game 4-0 before dropping Saturday's game 12-4 and winning the rubber match 5-4 with a three-run home run at the top of the ninth. That win gave the Giants a half game lead over the Bears, who have dropped down to seventh.

The gap widens again to the eighth-place Wiz, who trail by three games, with the Dinos and Eagles sharing ninth place with just 14 wins each this season.

The KBO resumes on Tuesday as the Giants head to Incheon to take on the Landers, the Heroes journey across Seoul to play the Twins, the Tigers face the Lions in Daegu, the Wiz visit the Dinos in Changwon and the Bears take on the Eagles in Daejeon.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]