With the first doubleheader of the season just a day away, the LG Twins took the first game of the series in a big way.
LG won the 11th game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League against the KIA Tigers 12-2 at Gwangju-KIA Champions Field on Monday to reach the 70-win mark. The season record is now 70 wins, 2 ties and 44 losses.
LG opened the scoring in the first inning when Shin Min-jae scored on a double by Kim Hyun-soo and a throwing error by center fielder Choi Won-joon, and scored in the fourth inning when Austin Dean, who made an aggressive play at the plate, raced home on a sacrifice fly by Oh Ji-hwan on a 1-3 pitch.
However, with no clear lead in the middle of the game, LG needed a run to solidify the victory. The players realized this, and they started to close the gap with four runs in the top of the sixth inning. On a bunt attempt by Moon Bo-kyung with runners on 1-2, KIA’s second pitcher Choi Ji-min made a bad throw to third base, allowing second baseman Kim Hyun-soo to come home and first baseman Austin and pinch-hitter Moon Bo-kyung to reach third and second base, respectively.
With the bases loaded and two outs, “Captain” Oh Ji-hwan took a 3-0 pitch from Choi Ji-min and smashed a two-run triple to right-center field. The team went up by five runs, and Oh recorded his 60th career triple. The sixth most in KBO history.
It wasn’t the end of the inning. LG added six more runs in the top of the seventh inning, including an error by Kim Sun-bin, who failed to catch Moon Bo-kyung’s grounder to second base. As LG continued to push Kia, they slowly got closer to victory.
While the batters cemented the victory with a bunch of runs, it was Kim Yun-sik who paved the way for the victory with a decision win against Yoon Young-chul. KIA was never going to be an easy opponent for the pitcher, given that he had been swept the day before, but Kim shut down the KIA bats with 5⅔ innings of seven-hit ball, striking out three and walking one.
After Kim Yun-sik was removed, Baek Seung-hyun (1⅓ innings), Yoon Hosol (⅔ innings), Park Myung-geun (⅓ innings), and Lee Ji-gang (1 inning) took care of the remaining innings, minimizing bullpen usage for LG. This could be a big plus for the team. Im Chan-kyu and Son Joo-young, who started the first and second games of the doubleheader, were also relieved of the burden, and some of the starters who were substituted late in the game, including Oh Ji-hwan, were clearly rested.토토사이트
The entire team was able to take the doubleheader with a lighter heart. With two games in one day, there are a lot of things that any team has to worry about when preparing for a doubleheader, such as mound management and ensuring that the players are healthy. In that regard, LG got more than one win today.