Landers, Twins hold on to top spots despite disappointing weekend

Baseball

Published: 12 Jun. 2023, 16:21 Updated: 12 Jun. 2023, 21:06

Landers, Twins hold on to top spots despite disappointing weekend

The NC Dinos celebrate after beating the SSG Landers 8-4 at Changwon NC Park in Changwon, South Gyeongsang on Sunday. The Dinos played Sunday's game wearing special ″Doguri″ uniforms bearing the image of the character owned by club owner NCSoft. [YONHAP]

Even a three-game slide couldn’t knock the SSG Landers off the top spot in the KBO last week, as a tough weekend for the second-place LG Twins saved the reigning champions from a drop down the rankings.

Despite the wobble on the weekend, the Landers and Twins hold a comfortable lead over the rest of the table for the second season in a row, with the third-place NC Dinos three games back and the fourth-place Lotte Giants half a game behind them.

The gap extends further to the fifth-place Doosan Bears, who are two games behind the Giants, and then drops off quickly in the bottom half of the table. The sixth-place Kia Tigers trail the Bears by 2.5 games, with the Samsung Lions another 1.5 games behind them.

The Kiwoom Heroes, KT Wiz and Hanwha Eagles are bunched close together at the bottom of the table, with the last-place Eagles a full 13 games behind the Landers.

It was a rare early summer week in Korea with not a single game canceled due to rain or pollution. Instead there were some decisive results, with the Landers, Bears and Wiz all sweeping their midweek series.

The Landers took three tight wins against the Tigers at Gwangju-KIA Champions Field in Gwangju, winning all three games by just a single run — 2-1, 9-8, 5-4.

Down in Busan, the Wiz posted similar results against the Giants — 4-1, 3-2, 7-6 — while over at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in southern Seoul, the Bears romped to a far more emphatic win over the Heroes — 4-1, 6-3, 2-1.

The third-place Dinos were the only other team to take a win in the midweek series, beating the Lions two games to one — 6-9, 4-0, 7-1.

The second-place Twins were unable to put any room between themselves and the Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul, winning the opening game 9-1, but then tying 5-5 on Wednesday and taking a big loss on Thursday, 13-0.

Moving into the weekend the tables turned completely, with the Dinos the sole team to win in both series, sweeping the Landers — 5-2, 7-0, 8-4 — at Changwon NC Park in Changwon, South Gyeongsang.

The Twins did not fare much better, losing two games to one to the last-place Eagles at Daejeon Hanbat Baseball Stadium. The Eagles took the opener 6-5 and Saturday’s game 7-0, before the Twins were able to fight their way back to a 13-7 consolation win on Sunday.

The fourth-place Giants took their second loss on the trot over the weekend at Daegu Samsung Lions Park, winning the opener 5-1 and then dropping game two to the Lions 9-7 and losing the rubber match 6-4.

The Doosan Bears did not fare any better at Jamsil, losing 7-3 to the Tigers on Friday and 6-3 on Saturday, before finally making the run of three runs work for them on Sunday with a 3-2 win.

Kiwoom and KT faced off in the final game of the week down in Suwon, Gyeonggi, with the Heroes taking the win — 2-3, 5-2, 14-5.

The KBO returns Tuesday as the Landers host the Wiz in Incheon, the Lions travel to Seoul to take on the Twins while the Bears head south to face the Dinos in Changwon. The Eagles and Giants face off in Busan, while the Tigers visit the Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome.

There’s some intrigue moving into the weekend as the Twins play host to the Bears in the latest edition of the Jamsil Derby at their shared stadium, while the fourth-place Giants take on the league leaders in Incheon. The Dinos head to Gwangju to play the Tigers, the Lions and Wiz faceoff in Suwon and the Heroes take on the Eagles in Daejeon.

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