The LG Twins have increased their chances of advancing directly to the Korean Series to 75.8 percent.
LG won its first 60-win season in a decade with an 8-4 victory in its 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League home game against the Kiwoom Heroes at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on Wednesday, extending its winning streak to four games.
Excluding 1985-1988, which was played in the post-war league, and 1999-2000, which was played in the bi-national league, a team with 60 wins has a 75.8 percent (25 of 33) chance of finishing first in the regular season.
They also have a 60.6 percent (20 of 33) chance of winning the Korean Series.
Trailing 1-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning, LG tied the game at 2-2 on Oh Ji-hwan’s double to left-center, followed by Park Dong-won’s sacrifice fly.
In the fifth, foreign-born Austin Dean hit a two-run home run, a 135-meter shot that hit the top of the left-field bleachers, to make it 5-2.
LG added two more runs in the sixth inning when Shin Min-jae singled up the middle with the bases loaded.
Shin capped the scoring in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI triple over the center field fence.
LG right-hander Choi Won-tae, making his first start against his hometown team after being acquired from Kiwoom, allowed two runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts in five innings to improve to 8-5 on the season.
The KT WIZ regained third place a day after defeating the NC Dinos 4-3 at home in Suwon. NC dropped to fourth place.
KT scored the game-winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Trailing 2-3, KT capitalized on a leadoff single to right by Lee Ho-yeon.
After a sacrifice bunt by Park Kyung-soo and a walk to Kim Sang-soo, the runners were on second and third when Choi Jae-dae lined a single to left to tie the game at 3-3 against NC closer Lee Yong-chan.
Yoo gave up a walk to Kim Min-hyuk to end the game, and pinch-hitter Moon Sang-chul took a forked ball from Yoo and hit a single to left to end the game.
Ko Young-pyo, who throws quality starts (QS – six or more innings with three or fewer earned runs) like nobody’s business, extended his streak to 11 games with a “new ball” that limited the damage to three runs despite facing a whopping 13 hits in seven innings.
The inability to score more runs proved to be NC’s undoing.
The Hanwha Eagles ended a five-game losing streak with a 6-1 victory over the Doosan Bears in Daejeon.
Two long balls from home run leader Noh Si-hwan were the difference in the game.
With one out in the bottom of the first inning, Noh lined a 148-kilometer-per-hour fastball down the middle off Doosan starter Kwak Bin for a two-run shot that traveled 125 meters into the right-center field stands.
It was Noh’s 27th home run of the season, three days after his three-run blast against the KT Wiz on April 9.
Noh extended his lead over second-place Choi Jung (SSG Landers-21) to six and is poised to take over the division.
After Doosan cut the deficit to 1-2 on Jose Rojas’ triple to right-center field, Hanwha added three runs in the bottom of the seventh to take the lead.
With runners on first and second, Lee Do-yoon hit an RBI double to make it 3-1, and Kim In-hwan followed with a walk to put runners on first and second, and Noh Si-hwan hit a bases-clearing double off the top of the center field fence.
Noh increased his RBI total to 75 on the season, taking over the top spot in that category as well. Hanwha’s No. 9 hitter, Lee Do-yoon, added to the scoring in the eighth with a single to left.
Hanwha starter Moon Dong-joo struck out five and gave up one run in six innings to Doosan’s Kwak Bin, who gave up four runs in 6 1/3 innings.
In Busan, the KIA Tigers defeated the Lotte Giants 13-5 to get back to a winning percentage of five (45-2, 45-2).
KIA overwhelmed Lotte with its offense throughout the game, combining 20 hits and seven walks with no home runs to score 13 runs and leave 15 stranded.
KIA took an early 1-0 lead in the second inning, scoring five runs on Han Jun-soo’s RBI double to center, Choi Won-jun’s RBI double to center, and RBI singles by Park Chan-ho and Choi Hyung-woo.
Down 1-8 in the bottom of the fifth, Lotte rattled off four straight hits, including three doubles, and a RBI single by Jeon Jun-woo to pull within four runs.
However, sloppy outfield defense in the eighth inning brought them to their knees as they surrendered four runs to KIA.
Im Ki-young, who came in after starter Yoon Young-chul, who gave up five runs in 4⅔ innings, pitched 2⅓ perfect innings to earn the win.
Second-place SSG Landers defeated the Samsung Lions 3-2 in Incheon, led by Han Yoo-seom’s walk-off hit in the bottom of the 10th inning.
Han Yoo-seom, who handed in his captain’s armband due to a severe batting slump, was the hero of the day.
With the score 1-2 and the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning, Han hit a solo shot past Samsung’s Woo Kyu-min to tie the game.
He then came up with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning and pumped his fist in the air after a 10-pitch battle with Samsung closer Oh Seung-hwan for a clean hit to right to end the game.
Unlike SSG Seo Jin-yong, 먹튀검증 who induced a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 10th inning to save the day, Oh Seung-hwan got himself into trouble with an intentional walk and a hit-by-pitch before giving up a single to Han Yoo-seom.