The LG Twins defeated the SSG Landers, led by Hong Chang-ki, to consolidate their lead atop the standings.
LG pounded out 15 hits in a 10-4 win at home against SSG in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on Saturday.
Leader LG, which was the only one of the five venues to play a game, extended its lead over second-place KT Wiz, which did not play, to six games.
LG has 23 games left in the regular season, while KT has 20.
Meanwhile, SSG, which lost its third straight game, lost the fourth spot to the KIA Tigers and moved into a tie for fifth place with the Doosan Bears.
Hong Chang-ki led off the first inning with a single to left field.
He promptly stole second base, his 20th stolen base of the season, and then slid home on back-to-back infield grounders by Shin Min-jae and Kim Hyun-soo to take the lead.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, with the score at 1-0, Shin drove in a valuable run with a double to right field and came home on a single by Kim Hyun-soo to make it 3-0.
Cruising, LG tied the game in the top of the sixth inning when starter Casey Kelly suddenly faltered, giving up an RBI single to Guillermo Heredia and an RBI double to Choi Joo-hwan, and then gave up another RBI single to Park Sung-hyun to make it a 3-4 game.
Hong Chang-ki came back to tie the game.
Coming to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth inning, Hong hit a double off SSG’s second pitcher, Ko Hyo-joon.
He came home on a single by Shin Min-jae to score his third run of the game.
LG scored three runs in the seventh inning on back-to-back RBI singles by Moon Bo-kyung, Park Dong-won, and Moon Sung-joo to seal the win.
Hong went 3-for-5 on the day, raising his batting average from 0.337 to 0.340 to overtake Son Ah-seop (NC Dinos-0.339) as the league’s top hitter.
He also scored his 99th run of the season, pushing Kim Hye-sung (Kiwoom Heroes – 97) back into the top spot in the league.
LG’s Park Hae-min stole second base in the fifth inning to become the second player in KBO history to reach 20 stolen bases in 10 consecutive seasons.
The previous leader in this category was Jung Geun-woo with 11 seasons from 2006 to 2016.
Games scheduled to be played in Gwangju, Daejeon, Busan, and Changwon were all canceled due to rain.
The Doosan-KIA (Gwangju) and KT-Hanwha Eagles (Daejeon) games have been rescheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 18, while the Busan game between Kiwoom and Lotte Giants will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 19.
The Samsung Lions-NC game in Changwon will be organized at a later date. 파워볼게임