The LG Twins, who have secured the top spot in the regular season of this year’s KBO League, continued their three-game winning streak with a full-court press.
LG came from behind to win 7-6 against the visiting Lotte Giants in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Sajik Stadium in Busan on Thursday.
The victory extended LG’s winning streak to three games, as the team had not played the previous day and had secured a direct ticket to the Korean Series with the losses of second-place KT Wiz and third-place NC Dinos.
With 83 regular-season wins (51 losses and two ties), LG needs four wins in its remaining eight games to match the most wins in a single season in franchise history (87) set last year.
On the other hand, the road to autumn baseball just got tougher for seventh-placed Lotte, which still has hopes of making the postseason.
The gap between the two teams widened to six games after the fifth-placed SSG Landers won on Sunday.
Lotte took the lead in the second inning when Kim Min-seok’s double with one out allowed first baseman Yoo Kang-nam to score due to an error on an LG broadcast play.
In the third, with one out, Jeon Jun-woo hit his 16th two-run homer of the season off LG starter Casey Kelly.
LG battled back and scored two runs in the fourth on a single by Park Dong-won and a sacrifice fly by Moon Sung-joo.
In the sixth, leadoff hitter Austin Dean’s double and Oh Ji-hwan’s single to right field tied the game, and Kim Min-sung’s RBI single and Shin Min-jae’s sacrifice fly added two more runs.
LOTTE then regained the lead in the eighth inning with an RBI double by Noh Jin-hyuk and Yoo Kang-nam’s ninth two-run homer of the season to make it 6-5.
LG came back in the ninth off Lotte closer Kim Won-joong.
Back-to-back singles by Hong Chang-ki and Park Hae-min put runners on first and third with no outs, and the former stole second to erase the threat.
After Kim Hyun-soo’s infield single tied the game, LG turned the tide with Oh Ji-hwan’s pitcher’s interference infield hit that put runners on second and third.
Kelly finished the regular season with six innings, six hits (one home run), one walk, five strikeouts and three runs (two earned) as LG prepares for the Korean Series. 스포츠토토