The league’s bottom-ranked Hanwha Eagles defeated the top-ranked LG Twins for the second straight day.
Hanwha rode its bats to a 5-3 victory over visiting LG in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on Wednesday.
Hanwha, which had snapped an eight-game losing streak with a win the previous day, extended its winning streak with a sweep series (at least two wins in three games).
On the LG side, second-place KT WIZ missed a chance to extend its lead atop the standings as it suffered a three-game sweep at the hands of the Kiwoom Heroes.
With both starting pitchers Moon Dong-ju (Hanwha) and Lim Chan-kyu (LG) faltering side by side, the sharper Hanwha emerged victorious.
LG, which got hits from all of its starters, had a team-high 14 hits, far outnumbering Hanwha’s five, but lacked cohesion and left 12 stranded.
After taking the lead in the first inning, Hanwha scored five runs on four hits and one walk in the second inning.
A leadoff single to right by Kim Tae-yeon and a triple by Choi In-ho, his first in the KBO, quickly tied the game at 1-1.
LG gave up a run on an error.
The next batter, Jang Jin-hyuk, hit a grounder that first baseman Austin Dean failed to catch, giving up both a run and the tying run.
Hanwha responded with a sacrifice bunt by Choi Jae-hoon to move Jang into scoring position, and Lee Do-yoon followed with a single over the first baseman’s head.
With two outs and runners on first and second, outfielder Noh Si-hwan hit a huge double to center field to bring both runners home.
Park Hae-min, a center fielder with a wide range of defense, threw himself at the fence to make the catch, but his glove came off and it was an in-play ball.
LG pulled within two runs in the bottom of the second on Kim Hyun-soo’s RBI single to right and Oh Ji-hwan’s solo shot to center in the fifth, but could not overturn the deficit.
In the top of the eighth inning, down 3-5, Park Hae-min’s stolen base attempt was perfectly caught by Hanwha catcher Choi Jae-hoon.
In his final start of the season, Hanwha’s Moon Dong-joo threw 105 pitches in 4 1/3 innings, allowing 11 hits (one home run), two walks, two strikeouts, and three runs (three earned).
Despite Moon’s early exit, the Hanwha bullpen held on to the lead with relievers.
Kim Bum-soo (1⅔ innings), Joo Hyun-sang (2 innings) and Park Sang-won (1 inning) shut down the LG bullpen. 파워볼