With the red light on third-place Suwon, the LG Twins snapped a three-game losing streak with some tactical baseball.
LG scored three runs in the top of the ninth inning off Lotte closer Kim Won-joong to break a 2-2 tie and win 5-3 in the visiting team's 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League game at Sajik Stadium in Busan on Monday.
LG extended its lead over the fourth-place Doosan Bears, who had a day off, to two games.
LG played frustrating baseball, leaving runners on first and second with no outs in the second inning, runners on first and third with no outs in the third inning, runners on second and third with no outs in the fifth inning, and runners on first and second with no outs in the seventh inning.
Lotte was able to capitalize on a run in the third inning when Ko Seung-min singled with runners on first and second to take the lead.
However, LG tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the eighth on Moon Bo-kyung's thunderous solo shot to center field, and then turned the tide two batters later on the foot of Oh Ji-hwan, who led off with a single.
After stealing second base, Oh stole third as Song was thrown out at the plate. When LOTTE center fielder Yoon Dong-hee's throw to third was headed toward the dugout, Oh wasted no time in scoring home.
In the bottom of the eighth, Lotte tied the game at 2-2 on Son Ho-young's huge home run to left, and it looked like LG's momentum might be over, but a flurry of hits in the top of the ninth saved the Twins.
Park Hae-min and Kim Hyun-soo hit back-to-back singles off Kim Won-joong to put runners on first and second with no outs.
Hong Chang-ki then bunted and then turned it into a hard hit that rolled into the outfield off the side of Lotte first baseman Na Seung-yeop, who was fielding forward.
Austin Dean followed with a sacrifice fly to put runners on first and third, 카지노사이트 and Moon scored on an infield grounder to center field to give LG a 5-2 lead.
Lotte was able to cut the deficit to one run in the bottom of the ninth with runners on first and second.
The Samsung Lions snapped a three-game losing streak with a dramatic three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning by foreign-born slugger Lewin Diaz to beat archrival KT Wiz 8-6 in Suwon.
Samsung cut the magic number of second-place finishes directly into the playoffs to two. If Samsung wins or third-place LG loses, the magic number will be reduced by one.
Samsung scored two runs in the second inning on Lee Jae-hyun's RBI single up the middle and Ryu Ji-hyuk's groundout, and made it 3-0 in the third on Koo Ja-rook's solo shot to center.
KT got a run back in the third on a wild pitch by Samsung starter Denny Reyes, then tied the game at 3-3 in the fourth on back-to-back singles by Oh Jae-il and Kim Sang-soo and a run-scoring single by Hwang Jae-gyun.
The back-and-forth battle continued until the eighth inning, when Samsung would pull away and KT would tie the game again, leaving the two teams tied at 5-5.
Then, in the top of the ninth, Samsung's Diaz put runners on first and second with one out and KT's Son Dong-hyun taking a three-pitch curveball over the center field fence for a dramatic game-winning home run.
Samsung gave up a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth off Jae-yoon Kim to Jang Sung-woo, but the team was able to close out the game without allowing another run.
In Changwon, the NC Dinos defeated the Hanwha Eagles 5-2.
Right-hander Shin Sang-hyun, who joined NC this year after graduating from Daegu Sangwon High School, pitched six innings of two-run ball to earn his 11th win of the season.
He also earned the title of NC's first high school rookie to win his first start.
Hanwha opened the scoring in the first inning with an RBI single to right field by Moon Hyun-bin, but NC answered back with a Matt Davidson double to left-center field after an offensive shift. It was Davidson's 45th home run of the season to take over the home run lead.
Hanwha tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the second inning with a solo shot to left-center field by Chae Eun-sung, but was unable to score any more runs.
NC broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth inning, scoring three runs on back-to-back singles by Lee Jae-hwan and Seo Ho-cheol, followed by Kim Joo-won's RBI double to left-center and Kim Hwijip's RBI double.
Hanwha was unfortunate to miss three bats.
After failing to close the gap on fifth-place KT, seventh-place Lotte and eighth-place Hanwha's chances of qualifying for the fall baseball season are further diminished.