The professional baseball LG Twins managed to secure their second place by achieving a hard-fought comeback victory against the bottom-ranked Kiwoom Heroes.
LG recorded a 4-3 comeback victory in a game against Kiwoom on the 8th at Jamsil Stadium. They overturned the game on the back of the opponent's error.
With Lotte, who was tied for second, losing to Doosan on the same day, LG became the sole second-place team. As a result, LG is one game ahead of third-place Lotte and 1.5 games ahead of fourth-place KIA. They are 3.5 games behind the leader Hanwha. With the All-Star break approaching, the battle for second place is fierce.
LG's starting pitcher Im Chan-kyu recorded a quality start with 6 innings, 6 hits allowed, 1 home run allowed, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts, and 3 earned runs. Im allowed a two-run homer to Lim Ji-yeol in the first inning. In the fourth inning, with 2 outs and a runner on second, he added another run due to an infield hit by Joo Sung-won and an error in the throw by the second baseman.
In the second inning, leadoff hitter Moon Bo-gyeong reached base with a double and successfully scored on Park Dong-won's infield hit with one out and a runner on third. In the fourth inning, Moon Bo-gyeong and Moon Sung-ju had consecutive hits, and with a sacrifice bunt creating a 1 out, runners on second and third situation, Oh Ji-hwan's sacrifice fly brought them within 2-3.
In the seventh inning, they succeeded in the comeback against Kiwoom's bullpen pitcher Won Jong-hyun. They took advantage of the opponent's pitcher's catching error and a throwing error to second base by catcher Kim Keon-hee while runner Park Hae-min was attempting to steal second, setting up a chance with no outs and a runner on third. A ground ball by Cheon Seong-ho brought the score to 3-3, and with one out and a runner on second, Kim Hyun-soo hit a go-ahead RBI.
Kim Hyun-soo, who had struck out, grounded to second, and hit a line drive to second base in his previous three at-bats, delivered the decisive hit in a critical moment. Before the game, manager Youm Kyoung-youb noted, "Kim Hyun-soo has been consistently performing well," and Kim Hyun-soo maintained a batting average of .302 with the game-winning hit in the seventh inning.
After the game, regarding the situation of the game-winning hit, Kim Hyun-soo said, "I thought the momentum had shifted to our side, and with the runner being a fast base runner, I expected a fast ball to come. At first, I misread the pitch type but thought the wild pitch led to the next mistake pitch not coming."
With one out and a runner on first, Won Jong-hyun threw two sliders in succession to get two strikes. A fastball on the third pitch resulted in a wild pitch, leading to one out and a runner on second. The fourth pitch fastball was thrown in the strike zone.
LG was leading until mid-June but handed over the first place to Hanwha. They are competing for second place with Lotte, while KIA has also joined the race. For LG, it's a tiring situation with pressure from both sides.
Kim Hyun-soo asked, "It's tough, but isn't it fun for the fans?" adding, "If a lot of fans come to the baseball games, we also have to work harder, which can be quite exhausting. However, it's not just us who are tired; I think the opposing team will also be tired. Teams that cannot escape are tired too, and teams that are chasing are tired. I hope they don’t manage to escape too much," he said with a smile.
Hanwha secured the first place in the first half for the first time in 33 years, and the fan-favorite "Elrogi" is in the 2nd to 4th places. Expectations are high that LG, Lotte, and KIA will simultaneously advance to the 'fall baseball' for the first time in history. Regarding this, Kim Hyun-soo candidly expressed, "I don’t know. I hope Lotte and KIA don’t come up. Their strength is too good..."
He continued, "From our perspective, it might be better not to face strong teams. But if strong teams come up against us, it becomes burdensome, and since the pitchers are all very good, everyone is finding it tough right now. Just thinking about it is exhausting. Facing the middle relievers and starting pitchers..." expressing his reluctance to face KIA and Lotte. LG has recently fallen behind with a record of 1 win and 2 losses against KIA and Lotte, who have many injured players.
If he were to meet his fellow rookie Ryu Hyun-jin (Hanwha) in the postseason. Kim Hyun-soo sighed, saying, "It would be best not to face Hyun-jin. If we do meet, just thinking about it is quite daunting."
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