KBO sees biggest win ever as Tigers trounce Giants, 23-0

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KBO sees biggest win ever as Tigers trounce Giants, 23-0

Glenn Sparkman of the Lotte Giants leaves the mound at the top of the fourth inning during a game against the Kia Tigers at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan. Lotte lost the game 23-0, the biggest loss in KBO history. [YONHAP]

Glenn Sparkman of the Lotte Giants leaves the mound at the top of the fourth inning during a game against the Kia Tigers at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan. Lotte lost the game 23-0, the biggest loss in KBO history. [YONHAP]

 
A week's worth of baseball news came in a single day on Sunday as the Kia Tigers took the biggest win in KBO history, forcing the Lotte Giants to take the biggest loss ever, and the Samsung Lions finally snapped a painful 13-game losing streak.
 
The Tigers — and the Giants as well, but for less auspicious reasons — made KBO history on Sunday with a 23-0 win at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan. The dominant performance saw the Tigers secure the biggest winning margin ever in a KBO game, beating the previous record of 22 runs set by the Samsung Lions with a 27-5 win over the LG Twins in 1997 and tied with the Giants 23-1 win over the Doosan Bears in 2014.
 
This time, the Giants were on the other side of the scorecard.
 
Things started off fairly quiet in the first inning at Sajik, with the Tigers picking up two runs in the opening frame and adding three more in the third. The gap really started to widen in the fourth, when the Tigers added six more to take the score to 11-0, then the floodgates opened in the fifth when Kia scored 10 runs in a single inning to take a 21 run lead at the halfway point.
 
The Giants were granted a short reprieve in the sixth and seventh innings, with the Tigers adding two more in the eighth to cement the 23-0 win.
 
The Tigers combined for a total of 26 knocks, with Choi Hyoung-woo, Kim Seok-hwan and Hwang Dae-in hitting a home run each. Hwang alone went 5-for-6 with six RBIs.
 
The Giants struggled to string together five hits despite fielding a total of 14 batters throughout the game. At the plate, eight pitchers were called up to try and stop the bleeding, with starter Glenn Sparkman taking the historic loss.
 
At the other end of the country, the Lions managed to snap their losing streak at 13 games, beating the Kiwoom Heroes 8-0 at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul. The win ended a 25-day dry spell for the Lions, who are barely holding on to eighth place with a couple of games in hand over the ninth-place NC Dinos.
 
Sunday's win offered some consolation for the Lions but little else — the Heroes still won the series, 3-2, 6-0, 0-8.
 
The first-place SSG Landers also won their series against the Bears at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in western Seoul, winning 1-0 on Friday and 5-4 on Sunday with Saturday's game canceled due to rain.
 
The Landers maintain a comfortable five game lead at the top of the KBO, with the Heroes slotting in at No. 2 and the Twins training 1.5 games behind.
 
 
Despite looking locked in for a playoff spot, the Twins actually lost their weekend series against the Dinos, losing the opening game 5-4 on Friday and the rubber match 5-1 on Sunday with an 11-5 win on Saturday providing some consolation on the road.
 
A big 5.5-game gap separates the top three teams with the No. 4 KT Wiz, who won their series against the last-place Hanwha Eagles over the weekend, losing the opening 8-0, but winning the next two games, 5-3, 3-1.
 
The Tigers round off the top five. Their historic win on Sunday capped off the only real sweep of the weekend, with the Gwangju club also winning 5-2 on Friday and 9-3 on Saturday.
 
The KBO returns Tuesday with a couple of series that pitch top-five teams against each other, with the Landers taking on the Twins and the Heroes facing the Wiz.
 
The Tigers avoid the melee as they face the Dinos at home, while elsewhere in the league the Giants and Bears play each other at Jamsil and the Eagles head to Daegu to take on the Lions.

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