Austin Dean (L) and Kim Hyun-soo of the LG Twins return to the dugout for a weather delay during a Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game against the Doosan Bears at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on April 13, 2025. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 14 (Korea Bizwire) — After taking advantage of a softer part of their schedule, first-place LG Twins will be in for a challenging week in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) starting Tuesday.
At 14-3-0 (wins-losses-ties), the Twins have a four-game lead over the SSG Landers (9-6-0) at the top of the standings. Those two clubs will square off for three games starting Friday at the Landers’ home in Incheon, just west of Seoul. It will be their first meeting of 2025.
Before that, the Twins will have their first showdown against the Samsung Lions, from Tuesday to Thursday at their home, Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul.
Of the Twins’ 17 games so far this year, 10 have come against clubs that didn’t qualify for the postseason in 2024, and the Twins won nine of them.
The Lions have dropped two straight games and three of their past four to fall to fourth place at 10-8-0,
Their bats have cooled off, with a .228 batting average during that four-game stretch. But the Lions still lead the KBO with 110 runs scored, 21 home runs and a .432 slugging percentage.
This could spell trouble for the Twins’ scheduled starter for Tuesday, Elieser Hernandez.
Hernandez has been responsible for two of the Twins’ three losses so far this season. He began the season by holding the Hanwha Eagles to one hit over seven shutout innings on March 25, but he has since been roughed up for 12 runs on nine hits, including four home runs, in six innings over two outings.
The Landers are getting it done with solid pitching, while their lineup has been mostly silent. They are tied for last with 59 runs scored and have hit the second-fewest home runs with seven.
The absence of slugger Choi Jeong, who has yet to play this season with a right hamstring injury, has hurt them. Choi, the KBO’s all-time leader with 495 home runs, recently hit a snag in his rehab and is scheduled to be re-evaluated Tuesday.
The Landers have also lost Guillermo Heredia, the reigning league batting champion, to a right leg injury.
Before hosting the Twins, the Landers will have to contend with the surging Eagles, who have won four of their last five games. In those five games, the Eagles have the league’s lowest ERA (2.20) and highest batting average (.355).
The defending champions Kia Tigers will try to continue their climb out of the league cellar, when they host the KT Wiz in Gwangju, 270 kilometers south of Seoul, for the midweek series and then visit the Doosan Bears in Seoul for the weekend meeting.
The Bears will be rested for their Friday-Sunday games against the Tigers. Their Tuesday-Thursday series against the NC Dinos at Changwon NC Park was postponed due to ongoing safety inspections at the stadium, following a recent death of a fan in a freak accident.
The Tigers have been decimated by injuries to key players, including the 2024 league MVP Kim Do-yeong, but Kim and other sidelined regulars are nearing their return.
The Tigers fell to last place Saturday — the first time they hit the rock bottom in two years — but came right back up Sunday.
Teams ranked from fifth to 10th are only separated by 1.5 games.
(Yonhap)
