LG Twins climb up to second as Kiwoom Heroes' slide continues

Baseball

Published: 08 Aug. 2022, 16:09

LG Twins climb up to second as Kiwoom Heroes' slide continues

Oh Ji-hwan, right, celebrates with Robel Garcia after hitting a solo home run in a game against the Kiwoom Heroes at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in southern Seoul on Sunday. [YONHAP]

After a month of no movement at the top of the KBO, last week brought some drama as the LG Twins rode two strong outings up up to second place, pushing the struggling Kiwoom Heroes down to third with just two wins in the last 10 games.

The Twins started their week off with a two-game win over the Lotte Giants, losing the opening game 4-3 but coming back to take the series with a 4-1 win on Wednesday and a 12-2 in the rubber match on Thursday.

That win briefly allowed the Twins to overtake the Heroes, but it was the weekend series, when the second- and third-place teams faced off at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in southern Seoul, that cemented LG's lead.

In a repeat of the midweek performance, the Twins dropped the opening game to the Heroes 8-7, dropping back down to third place. That loss was quickly remedied over the weekend, with a big 12-3 win on Saturday and a 5-0 win on Sunday giving the Twins the series and a one-game lead over the Heroes.

It was an unfortunate week for the Heroes, who earlier came up against the unstoppable force that is the first-place SSG Landers. The Landers, now sitting eight games clear at the top of the KBO standing, beat the Heroes 7-5 in the opening game, dropped the Wednesday game 3-2 and then came back to win the rubber match 6-5.

Going into the weekend, the top-place team dropped their opening game against the ninth-place Samsung Lions 3-1, but then came back to win the next two games, 7-6, 7-6, to take the series.

The fourth-place KT Wiz had a mixed week, with a rain cancellation leaving their midweek series against the seventh-place NC Dinos undecided at one game each — 15-2, 3-4 — before going on to beat the tenth-place Hanwha Eagles with two easy wins, 5-1, 4-2, before dropping a consolation game 6-5.

Despite their loss on the weekend, the Eagles were the only other team alongside the Landers and Twins to win their midweek series, beating the fifth-place Kia Tigers in a tight series: 5-4, 3-6, 4-1.

The Tigers struggles continued going into the weekend, losing two games on the trot to the Bears — 5-3, 7-4 — before taking a consolation 5-4 win on Sunday. That series narrowed the gap between fifth and sixth to 4.5 games, a big drop from last week's six-game deficit.

The Bears had earlier split their midweek series with the Samsung Lions, with the first game canceled due to rain. The Bears took the second game 3-1, with the Lions coming back for a convincing 9-2 win on Thursday.

The final game of the weekend saw local rivals NC and Lotte face off. The Dinos won the series, losing the opener 7-2 before taking two big wins — 10-1, 14-0 — to lock up the series and knock the Giants down to eighth place.

The coming week will be a slightly unusual one for the KBO, with no games scheduled on Tuesday. The three-game midweek series this week will instead be moved to a Wednesday-Thursday-Friday slot, allowing the league to transition to two-game series from Saturday.

The KBO will play two-game series — Tuesday-Wednesday, Thursday-Friday, Saturday-Sunday — for the remainder of the season, with any games cancelled due to rain also mixed in as double headers wherever possible.

In the last three-game series of the regular season starting Wednesday, the Dinos will take on the Bears at Jamsil Baseball Stadium, southern Seoul, the Wiz will visit the Landers in Incheon, the Tigers will face the Lions in Daegu, the Giants head to Seoul to play the Heroes and the Twins and Eagles face off in Daejeon.

Visitors to Jamsil Baseball Stadium — where Doosan will also face the Landers over the weekend — should be aware that roads around the stadium will be closed for the 2022 Hana Bank Seoul E-Prix which is taking place on Saturday and Sunday throughout the Jamsil sports complex.

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