Lewin Diaz of the Samsung Lions (R) rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run against the LG Twins during a Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on April 17, 2025, in this photo provided by the Lions. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 17 (Korea Bizwire) — There are two things the LG Twins have done better than any team in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) this year: win games and fill their home stadium.
The Samsung Lions made sure the Twins only got one part of the equation Thursday night.
Lewin Diaz smoked a two-run home run and cleanup Kang Min-ho contributed a two-run double, as the Lions rallied for a 6-3 win over the KBO-leading Twins at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul.
Lions starter Won Tae-in held the Twins to a run over six innings for his second win of the season.
The win ended the Lions’ season-worst losing streak at four games, and they improved to 11-10-0 (wins-losses-ties). The Twins dropped to 16-4-0 but still lead the league.
The game was played before a sellout crowd of 23,750 — the 12th time the Twins sold out Jamsil in 13 games so far this season.
The Twins gave them much to cheer about by opening the scoring in the bottom third, and doing so in old school fashion.
Park Hae-min led off the inning with a double off starter Won Tae-in and was sacrificed over to third base. Then Hong Chang-ki drove him home with a sacrifice fly to left field.
Before Thursday’s game, the Twins had been 13-1-0 when scoring first, the league’s best winning percentage in that situation.
The Lions did their best to put a dent in that record. In the top fourth, after Koo Ja-wook led off with a broken-bat single off starter Song Seung-ki, Diaz drilled a go-ahead, two-run home run into the right-field stands to put the Lions up 2-1.
It was the first home run surrendered by Song in 21 1/3 innings this season.
The Lions added two runs in the top fifth. With two outs and two aboard, cleanup Kang Min-ho lined a double to right-center field to bring both runners home for a 4-1 Lions lead and knocked Song out of the game.
Making his KBO debut, Lions rookie Sim Jae-hoon made an impact in the top sixth.
After reliever Kim Young-woo struck out the inning’s first two batters, Sim drew a walk and stole second base. Kim Seong-yoon then dumped a single to shallow left, and Sim sprinted home to make it a 5-1 game.
The walk, the steal and the run were all firsts of Sim’s career. He recorded his first career hit with an infield single in the third inning.
After failing to score with the bases loaded in the top seventh, the Lions gave themselves more breathing room in the eighth, courtesy of an RBI single by Lee Jae-hyeon.
That was enough offense to make a winner out of Won, who scattered five hits across six innings and struck out three. He has yet to allow more than two runs in any of his four starts so far in 2025.
The Twins got a run back in the bottom eighth on Moon Bo-gyeong’s solo home run and another in the bottom ninth thanks to Gu Bon-hyeok’s RBI single,
After Gu’s hit, the Twins loaded the bases with a walk and a single, but Moon popped out to shortstop and Park Dong-won struck out against reliever Kim Jae-yoon to end the game.
(Yonhap)
