While the top three faltered, NC Dinos rattled off four straight wins, led by a resurgent Lee “Ace Mode” Jae-hak, to pull within striking distance of the top three.
NC reached the 30-win plateau for the fourth time this season with a 7-0 sweep of the SSG Landers at NC Park in Changwon on Tuesday, securing the sweep with a perfect game from Lee Jae-hak.
With the win, NC is now 4.5 games behind leader SSG, which has won four straight, two games behind second-place LG, and half a game behind third-place Lotte.
NC dominated SSG throughout, led by starter Lee Jae-hak. He allowed just two hits in seven innings and struck out nine. He also walked just two and did not allow an earned run to improve to 2-1. …
Most importantly, it was his fourth straight quality start this season. He started a little late due to a delay in signing a free agent contract, but this was his best performance yet, following six innings of no-hit ball in his comeback against Samsung on May 21, three runs (two earned) in six innings against Hanwha on May 27, and one run (unearned) in six innings against LG Electronics on June 4.
The bats also took some of the pressure off Lee’s shoulders in the top of the first inning, when they broke out for a lucky five-run inning against SSG starter Kirk McCarty.
In the bottom of the first inning, with the bases loaded on a walk, a single by Seo Ho-cheol, and a single by Park Geon-woo, Jae-hyun Hwan scored two runs on a throwing error by SSG second baseman Choi Joo-hwan, and two batters later, Do Tae-hoon hit an RBI single and Yoon Hyung-joon hit a two-run double to score five runs in one inning.
NC then extended its lead to seven runs in the sixth inning with a Son As-seob RBI single and a Do Tae-hoon RBI single in the seventh inning, forcing SSG to surrender.
The Hanwha Eagles continued their winning streak with a 7-0 victory over the LG Twins, led by substitute Ricardo Sanchez on the mound and Kim Tae-yeon at the plate. LG, on the other hand, slipped back into a three-game losing streak after winning one game (including one tie) since last weekend’s NC game on the 2nd, dropping its winning percentage to .589 (33 W, 23 L, 2 T) and falling below the six-percent mark for the first time this season.
Sanchez, who donned an eagle uniform as a replacement for Butch Smith, threw 112 pitches over eight innings, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out eight. It was what you might call a “monster outing. The three-game win streak lowered his ERA from 1.85 to 1.39. More importantly, Sanchez has become Hanwha’s “belly of the beast” with a 100 percent win rate in all six games he has pitched this season.
At the plate, Kim Tae-yeon, who celebrated her birthday, went 2-for-4 with a two-run home run, three RBIs and one run scored. Tae-yeon, who started at second base with Jeong Eun-won, the starting second baseman, out on rest, pulled a 143-kilometer fastball from LG starter Lee Min-ho over the left field fence for her second two-run home run of the season in the bottom of the second inning.
After a rain delay of 43 minutes during LG’s offense in the third inning, Hanwha rallied with Kim Tae-yeon’s RBI single in the fourth and RBI singles by Noh Si-hwan and Chae Eun-sung in the eighth.
LG starter Lee Min-ho, making his second start since returning from injury, was tagged for five runs on seven hits (one home run) in five innings to take the loss.
The Samsung Lions pounded out 14 hits, including four home runs, including Oh Jae-il’s back-to-back grand slams that pulled them out of a long slump, to beat Lotte 9-7 at home in Daegu and avenge a loss the day before.
Samsung, which sold out its second home game of the season since the opener on April 1, started with Lee Jae-hyun’s sixth home run of the season in the second inning, followed by Oh Jae-il’s ninth career blast to become the 34th player in history to reach 200 homers and Kim Hyun-jun’s second three-run shot of the season in the seventh.
Samsung starter Albert Suarez capitalized on the early offense, allowing three runs on nine hits with five strikeouts and three walks in 5⅔ innings on 116 pitches.
LOTTE was left disappointed as starter Han Hyun-hee was tagged for five runs (three earned) on two home runs, and Samsung’s home run machine exploded every time they tried to rally.
Down 3-9 in the bottom of the ninth, Lotte used a walk to Kim Tae-hoon to load the bases with one out and bring in Oh Seung-hwan, who got RBI singles from Go Seung-min and Jeon Jun-woo to pull within 7-9, but couldn’t get over the final hurdle.
Oh Seung-hwan’s ninth save of the season gave him 379 career saves in the KBO, leaving him 21 saves away from 400 for his KBO career.
The KIA Tigers defeated the Doosan Bears 6-3 in Jamsil behind a comeback hit by veteran Choi Hyung-woo.
KIA starter Lee Yi-ri gave up three runs on three hits in the bottom of the third inning after taking a 2-0 lead, but Choi Hyung-woo went 2-for-5 with two RBIs, including a game-winning hit in the fifth inning, to earn his sixth win in six starts, striking out four and walking three.
Doosan was limited to just four hits, with Kim Jae-ho having a multi-hit game and Kang Seung-ho and Jeong Soo-bin having one hit apiece, and dropped its second straight and remains 1.5 games behind KIA. 메이저사이트
The Kiwoom Heroes defeated the KT Wiz 5-2 in Suwon, avenging the previous day’s extra-inning loss, behind a strong pitching performance from Ahn Woo-jin and Kim Hye-sung’s third career grand slam.
Ahn Woo-jin pitched seven innings of five-hit ball, striking out nine and allowing one run, and got some much-needed help from the bats to earn her fourth win of the season. He regained the strikeout lead with 96, seven ahead of NC’s Eric Peddy (89). His ERA dropped slightly from 1.87 to 1.82, but he still ranks third behind Peddy (1.74) and Raul Alcantara (1.77).
Kim Hye-sung led off the second inning with a double and a walk, then took a two-pitch pitch from KT starter Lee Sun-woo for a grand slam over the right field fence. It was his third home run of the season.
Lee, who was making his second start of the season after a victory over Doosan on April 4, suffered his first loss after allowing five runs on nine hits (one home run) with two walks and three strikeouts in five innings.