I'm holding out. The on-base king, closing, and setup man are in crisis, but 7 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses, and the revival of the batta team until retaking and spreading the top spot

May 27, 2025

I'm holding out. The on-base king, closing, and setup man are in crisis, but 7 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses, and the revival of the batta team until retaking and spreading the top spot
LG won the match between LG and SSG 3-2 at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 23rd. Coach Yeom Kyung-yeop, who has achieved 600 wins in the regular season, is being handed a commemorative ball to Park Hae-min. Incheon= Reporter's wook@sportschosun.com/2025.05.23/



I'm holding out. The on-base king, closing, and setup man are in crisis, but 7 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses, and the revival of the batta team until retaking and spreading the top spot
The LG-SSG match held at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 25th. Coach Yeom Kyung-yeop is welcomed after Lee Ju-heon hit a solo shot in the top of the eighth inning. Incheon = Reporter Jung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2025.5.25/
I'm holding out. The on-base king, closing, and setup man are in crisis, but 7 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses, and the revival of the batta team until retaking and spreading the top spot
The LG-SSG match at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 25th is welcomed by coach Yeom Kyung-yeop after Moon Bo-kyung hit a solo shot in the top of the seventh inning. Incheon = Reporter Jung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2025.5.25/
"I'm holding out."

Two weeks ago, bad news broke out for the LG Twins one after another. On the 13th, closing pitcher Jang Hyun-sik fell out due to fine damage to his back muscles, and Hong Chang-ki, one of the core members of the team's batting lineup, injured his knee during defense that day against Kiwoom. At the first examination, he was diagnosed as not a major injury of organ dislocation, but after the re-examination, he was found to have ruptured the outer collateral ligament and could not be seen in the regular season. Kim Kang-ryul, who was expected to be the temporary finisher instead of Jang Hyun-sik as a veteran setup man on Monday, was also excluded from the first team due to shoulder discomfort. Bae Jae-joon, who had been a must-winner on the 18th, the last day of the week, was also excluded from the first team due to shoulder problems. In addition, Austin Dean and Moon Sung-joo and Moon Bo-kyung were excluded from the starting lineup due to small injuries. The number of games in which backup players, including Koo Bon-hyuk and Song Chan-ho and Ham Chang-gun, played nearly half of them increased.

With the news of such an injury to LG, which had been in first place, losing the first place to Hanwha and second place by one game, there was a shadow of pessimism that it may not be easy to regain the first place.




However, as of the 26th, two weeks later, LG is in first place. He is 2.5 games ahead of second-place Hanwha. For two weeks, LG has risen to the top of the list, beating Hanwha with 7 wins, 1 draw, and 4 losses.

He swept three consecutive games against Kiwoom, which started with Jang Hyun-sik's injury, and the weekend's KT match ended with 4 wins and 2 losses by recording 1 win after 2 consecutive losses, and last week, he finished with 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss after a fierce batting battle against Lotte, which was tied for 2nd, and in the weekend's 3 consecutive games against SSG, he recorded 2 wins and 1 loss based on the good pitching of left-handed starters by Son Joo-young and Song Seung-ki.

His seven wins, one draw and four losses (0.636) over the past two weeks is second only to KT (8 wins and four losses). This was followed by Samsung, SSG, KIA (7 wins and 5 losses), and Lotte and NC (6 wins, 1 draw and 5 losses). Doosan had 5 wins, 1 draw and 6 losses, Hanwha had 4 wins and 8 losses, and Kiwoom had 1 wins and 11 losses.




I'm holding out. The on-base king, closing, and setup man are in crisis, but 7 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses, and the revival of the batta team until retaking and spreading the top spot
A match against LG-SSG held at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 25th. Austin, who scored when Kim Hyun-soo hit the bases loaded with two outs in the top of the fifth inning, is welcomed by manager Yeom Kyung-yeop. Incheon = Reporter Jung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2025.5.25/
I'm holding out. The on-base king, closing, and setup man are in crisis, but 7 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses, and the revival of the batta team until retaking and spreading the top spot
The LG-SSG match held at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 25th. Starting pitcher Song Seung-ki roars by striking out Han Yu-seom in the bottom of the sixth inning with two outs and runners on the second and third bases. Incheon = Reporter Jung Jae-geun cjg@sportschosun.com /2025.5.25/
I'm holding out. The on-base king, closing, and setup man are in crisis, but 7 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses, and the revival of the batta team until retaking and spreading the top spot
LG won the match between LG and SSG 3-2 at SSG Landers Field in Incheon on the 23rd. LG players share the joy of victory. Incheon= Reporter's wook@sportschosun.com/2025.05.23/
As manager Yeom Kyung-yeop said, "'LG is the team of 'Bata' (attack)," the offense led to a good performance. For two weeks, LG's team batting average stood at 286 percent, ranking second only to Lotte (0.298). However, he scored 86 points, more than Lotte (76 points). His slugging ability, which hit 22 home runs in 12 games, became the core of his scoring ability. Austin Dean hit six home runs in four consecutive games, Moon Bo-kyung and Park Dong-won hit three each, and Kim Hyun-soo and Oh Ji-hwan and Lee Young-bin hit two each.

The backup players also showed good performance. Koo Bon-hyuk hit a batting average of 364 (16 hits in 44 at-bats) and 12 RBIs during this period, while Ham Chang-gun, who came to the first team instead of Hong Chang-ki, also hit a batting average of 294 (5 hits in 17 at-bats) with two RBIs. Catcher Lee Joo-heon, who works with Song Seung-ki instead of Park Dong-won, hit a whopping .40 (four hits in 10 at-bats) with one home run and three RBIs in five games, and Lee Young-bin also added a batting average of .261 (6 hits in 23 at-bats) with two home runs and two RBIs.

The mound struggled with the starting lineup. The team's ERA in 12 games was 4.82, ranking eighth overall. Still, the starting lineup ranked fifth with 4.23. The quality start also ranked fourth with five.




The problem was the bullpen, which had three players missing. In fact, there were only Kim Jin-sung and Park Myung-geun in the must-win group. On top of that, Baek Seung-hyun, Lee Ji-gang, Kim Young-woo, and Lee Woo-chan tried to prevent it somehow. In some cases, they failed, but in others, they blocked and won.

LG has regained the first place with difficulty and is protecting it.

If Yoo Young-chan returns from injury this week, the bullpen is expected to breathe a little. In mid-June, Lee Jung-yong was discharged from Sangmu and Ham Deok-ju, who is also injured by Myung, is expected to return, raising expectations that the mound could become stronger in the summer when Jang Hyun-sik, Kim Kang-ryul and Bae Jae-joon return.

Instead, the batters have to find a breakthrough in difficulties. It's fortunate that the backup players are showing their growth. It is essential to take care of the main players as they have small injuries.

Coach Yeom set the direction of the season's operation from closing pitcher Yoo Young-chan's injury to Lee Jung-yong's holding out until mid-June. Fortunately, thanks to the stable selection and explosive batting lineup, it has risen to the top. However, LG still plans to operate the company. It is being challenged by Hanwha and Lotte, but it is not yet time to take the lead. LG's plan is to manage as much as possible to prevent any more injuries and focus on games that can be won. Nevertheless, performing well is proof that the team has grown that much.



This article was translated by Naver AI translator.