It’s not the SSG Landers that the LG Twins need to be wary of now. It’s the KT Wiz, who pulled off a miracle to climb from last to second place.
KT came from behind to win 5-4 in extra innings against the Hanwha Eagles in Daejeon on April 19.메이저사이트
It was a seesaw game. After Hanwha took the lead in the bottom of the third on Williams’ sacrifice fly, KT tied the game in the top of the fourth on Alford’s solo shot, then took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth on Oh Yoon-seok’s solo shot.
The joy was short-lived. Hanwha took the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth inning when Noh Si-hwan hit a spectacular three-run shot to make it 4-2.
It was KT’s second straight loss to Hanwha, but KT tied the game at 4-4 in the top of the seventh with a two-run double by pinch-hitter Park Byung-ho to extend the game to extra innings, then scored the winning run in the top of the 10th with a double by Choi Jae-dae and a triple by Kim Sang-soo to win 5-4.
With the win, KT jumped to second place with 57 wins, 2 losses and 46 draws, one game ahead of second-place SSG, which lost to LG. It took them 104 days to go from last place to second, as they were last in 10th place on May 7. Their win-loss margin increased from -14 to +11, which is a whopping 25 more wins.
Eight games behind first-place LG. That’s big, for sure. But KT’s momentum has been incredible.
Since June, KT has been on top of the table. With 41 wins and 17 losses, they have a winning percentage of 7.7. LG is in second place with 33 wins, 1 draw and 20 losses, a winning percentage of 6.62%.
The team hasn’t lost in over a month since losing four straight games on July 9. Since July 10, they have won 4 straight, lost 1, won 3, lost 1, won 7, won 1, lost 3, won 1, won 5, won 1, lost 1, and won 1, for a total of 23 wins and 5 losses.
KT’s winning formula has been working well this season, with a strong starting pitching staff and the top of the order of Son Dong-hyun, Park Young-hyun, and Kim Jae-yoon, and a focused batting lineup that eventually scores the winning runs.
Overturning an eight-game deficit is never easy. LG has also been on an upswing since the addition of Choi Won-tae. Despite KT’s tremendous run since June, they’ve only cut their deficit to 5.5 games. That means LG has been winning a lot too.
Whether KT can close the gap enough to threaten LG will likely come down to the remaining head-to-heads. LG and KT have met 10 times this season, with 5 wins and 5 losses. There are still six games to go.
First up is a three-game midweek series in Suwon from September 5-7. How much they can close the gap between now and then will determine whether the battle for first place will go ahead.
LG’s Yeom Kyung-yeop and KT’s Lee Kang-cheol worked together as head coach and head coach of the Nexen Heroes for four years from 2013 to 2016. The Heroes, who had a strong underdog image at the time, went on to become a powerhouse, making four consecutive postseason appearances, including a runner-up finish in the Korean Series, under Yeom and Lee. They still support and encourage each other, and now they are competing for the title.