The LG Twins of the Korea Professional Baseball League suffered a comeback loss in their first game after manager Youm Kyoung-youb declared, "We will fight aggressively." They lost the opportunity to leap to a tie for first place and are now one game behind the third-place Lotte.

LG lost 5-6 in a comeback to Doosan in the "Jamsil rivalry match" held at Seoul's Jamsil Stadium on the 21st. It was a disappointing game for LG in many ways.

Ahead of the game on the 21st, manager Youm Kyoung-youb said, "I believe this will be the first key moment. How we finish the games until the end of the first half will determine the atmosphere of the second half. The remaining 17 games (in the first half) will be incredibly important."

He continued, "It's not just our team that is important; everyone is close together, so it seems we will have fierce competition until the end of the year. It will be crucial to not get injured and to maintain our stamina."

In the first inning, LG exchanged a run with Doosan, and in the fourth inning, they gave up two runs, but in the bottom of the fourth, Park Dong-won hit a three-run homer to turn the game around to a 4-3 lead.

In the top of the fifth, starter Hernandez faced a crisis with no outs and runners on first and second after a walk and a hit from the lower batting order. Manager Youm replaced Hernandez with Lee Ji-kang as a relief pitcher. The game tied at 4-4 due to a sacrifice bunt and an infield ground ball.

Subsequently, Son Ju-yeong, Kim Jin-sung, Lee Ji-kang, Kim Young-woo, and Park Myeong-geun were brought in sequentially. After resting for ten days, starter Son Ju-yeong, who was registered to the first-team roster that day, was brought in during the sixth inning against left-handed batters. It was a pre-announced bullpen appearance. Since the gap between starts had lengthened, he planned to pitch for about one inning to maintain his game sense.

Son Ju-yeong found himself in a crisis on first and third base after allowing a hit to lead-off batter Kim Jae-hwan and another hit to Lee Yoo-chan with one out. The runner on first base got caught in a pick-off attempt, but Son Ju-yeong failed to cover first base, allowing him to survive. An infield hit by Oh Myung-jin scored one run, and a pinch-hit infield hit by Lim Jong-seong also brought in a run, making it 4-6. LG fought back against Doosan's closer Kim Taek-yeon in the bottom of the ninth to come within one point at 5-6, but could not tie the game.

Manager Youm held a team meeting on the 20th, calling for a full effort in the remaining 17 games of the first half. He emphasized, "If the fifth starter returns to normalcy, the bullpen can now be effective in consecutive games. I believe we can compete aggressively in these 17 games until the end of the first half."

The starter was removed early due to poor performance, and the bullpen was heavily utilized, but a series of error-prone plays led to the comeback loss. Moon Bo-gyeong, who had been struggling, hit three hits for the first time in a month, and Park Dong-won hit a home run, but the batting lineup failed to deliver key hits in crucial moments.

LG is now one game behind the leader Hanwha. The gap with third-place Lotte has also narrowed to one game.

[OSEN]