The professional baseball LG Twins falter with two consecutive losing series last week. They are threatened in their position as the 'absolute number one.' They ended up allowing opponents to close in.
LG recorded 1 win and 2 losses against the NC Dinos and 1 win and 2 losses against the KIA Tigers last week. After consistently winning since the start of the season, LG has struggled with two consecutive losses.
As a result, the gap from second place narrowed sharply from 6 games to 3 games in just 8 days. On the 19th, LG had a record of 18 wins and 4 losses (.818 winning percentage), with a 6-game lead over second place. However, after losing to KIA on the 27th, their record dropped to 20 wins and 9 losses (.690 winning percentage), narrowing the gap to 3 games behind second-place Samsung. Third place Hanwha is trailing at 3.5 games.
At the point when LG's pace is declining, a fateful nine-game series begins. The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) is assigning games during the Children's Day holiday on Monday, and the league will enter a nine-game series starting on the 29th. LG has a recent record of 4 wins and 6 losses in their last 10 games. NC had the worst performance with a record of 3 wins and 7 losses, and LG lost two games to NC.
LG's hitting cycle has overall been in a downward trend. In the last 10 games, LG's team batting average is .236, worse than Kiwoom (.204) and ninth-place NC (.204). In those 10 games, there were 5 instances of scoring 3 runs or fewer.
Leadoff hitter Hong Chang-ki and second baseman Shin Min-jae are still struggling with their batting, while the performance of key hitters is also gradually declining. Looking at the hitting results in the last 10 games, Austin is the only one with a batting average over .300 at .333. Cleanup hitter Moon Bo-kyung has a .260 average and 3 RBIs, Park Dong-won has a .235 average and 5 RBIs, and Kim Hyun-soo has a .276 average and 6 RBIs. Hong Chang-ki has a .167 average, while Shin Min-jae has a .150 average.
In the starting rotation, the injury of Hernandez has left one starting position vacant. Two holes will appear during the nine-game series.
Manager Yeom Kyung-yeob mentioned plans to use Koen Wynn, who is replacing the injured Hernandez, and Choi Chae-hung, who is raising his condition in the second team, once each during the nine-game series.
Koen is expected to enter the country on the 28th after receiving a visa in Japan. He is expected to have one official appearance in the second team and make his debut around the weekend. On the 24th, Chirinose, who pitched only 5 innings (77 pitches) against NC and requested a substitution due to fatigue in his right forearm, needs to be managed with rest.
Since Hernandez has been registered as a rehabilitation player, LG has suffered two complete defeats in games where replacement starters appeared. On the 20th against SSG, Kim Joo-on (⅓ innings, 2 walks, 1 earned run) collapsed early in the game, and on the 26th against KIA, Lee Ji-kang (3 innings, 8 hits, 2 home runs, 6 earned runs) also collapsed at the beginning. Koen and Choi Chae-hung need to deliver to some extent.
The opposing teams have formidable starters. Hanwha will send out YS, Ryu Hyun-jin, and Eom Sang-baek as starting pitchers against LG in the three-game series. During the three-game series at Jamsil LG at the end of March, Ryu Hyun-jin recorded 6 innings without an earned run, and Eom Sang-baek recorded 4⅔ innings with 2 earned runs.
YS had a poor record last year against LG, with 1 loss and an earned run average of 9.82 over 2 games. This season, YS has a record of 3 wins and 1 loss with an earned run average of 4.58. In his last 3 games, he has allowed 2 earned runs or fewer, achieving quality starts with a 3-win average earned run average of 2.75, keeping a good pace.
SSG has a starting rotation that could feature Anderson, Kim Kwang-hyun, and White against LG. The 'Children's Day Derby' three-game series against Doosan could see the appearance of Cole Ervin, Choi Won-joon, and Jack Logan.
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