The Doosan Bears, the original baseball team in the Korean Baseball Organization, have set a new record for the longest team winning streak in 41 years.
Doosan won its 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League home game against the Lotte Giants 8-5 at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on May 25, extending its winning streak to 11 games since the first of the month.
Doosan, which has only won 10 games in a row three times since its inception, set a new record for the longest winning streak and put pressure on the leaders.
The gap between third-place Doosan and second-place SSG Landers, which lost on the day, was reduced to three games.
This year, Doosan manager Lee Seung-yeop has tied the KBO record for most consecutive wins in a managerial debut season, held by former Lotte manager Jerry Royster. With a win on the 26th, Lee will become the first manager to set a new record in the category.
Doosan heralded the record with a big inning in the bottom of the third inning, when the score was 0-0.
Jung Soo-bin led off the inning with a double to left-center field, followed by Heo Kyung-min’s RBI single to left-center field, and Kim Jae-hwan’s two-run homer to right field made it 3-0.
Shaky Lotte starter Na Kyun-ahn gave up a walk to Yang Seok-hwan two batters later, and Jose Rojas singled to center field to score another run.
In the fifth, Yang Seok-hwan singled to left and both Heo Kyung-min and Kim Jae-hwan came home on an error by Lotte left fielder Shin Yoon-hoo, and Heo Kyung-min’s sacrifice fly in the sixth and Yang Seok-hwan’s home run in the seventh extended the lead to 8-2.
Doosan starter Brandon Waddell picked up his third win of the season with five innings of five-hit ball, one walk and nine strikeouts. He also lowered his ERA from 1.04 to 0.87.
Lotte, which had been in the top five for 95 days since April 21, lost its third straight game and dropped to sixth place after losing the fifth spot to the KT Wiz.
The Hanwha Eagles defeated the Kiwoom Heroes 16-6 at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.
Trailing 3-6 in the top of the eighth inning, Hanwha scored 13 runs in a whopping 1 hour and 8 minutes, using 18 batters to pull off a rare upset.
Hanwha’s offense, which started with No. 5 hitter Moon Hyun-bin, went around the bases exactly twice before Jang Ji-seung pinch-hit for No. 4 Chae Eun-sung.
Hanwha pounded out 10 hits, including five doubles and one home run, to wreak havoc on Kiwoom’s mound. Kiwoom used four pitchers – Kim Jae-woong, Lee Myung-jong, Kim Sun-ki and Yoon Seok-won – in the eighth inning alone, but they were unable to stop the red-hot Hanwha bats.
The 13 runs were the second-most in a single inning ever.
Five batters in the Hanwha lineup collected at least two hits, led by Lee Jin-young, the team’s No. 1 hitter, who hit a three-run homer to end the eighth inning’s big inning and finished with four RBIs.
The Samsung Lions defeated SSG 5-1 at home in Daegu, South Korea, behind a strong performance from foreign right-hander Albert Suarez.
Suarez pitched eight scoreless innings, giving up four hits and a walk, with his trademark off-speed pitches, to earn his fourth win of the season (7-1).
Samsung took the lead in the bottom of the second inning on a leadoff double by Kim Dong-yeop, a walk and a single to left by Kim Dong-jin.
In the sixth inning, Kim Ho-jae doubled to right-center, SSG reliever Ko Hyo-joon hit a wild pitch and Kim Dong-jin hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
After the two-out rally, Samsung’s cohesion continued in the bottom of the eighth, as Kim Ho-jae singled and Kim Dong-jin walked to put runners on first and second with Kim Hyun-joon singling up the middle and Lee Jae-hyun driving in a run with a single to center.
SSG avoided a shutout in the top of the ninth with Ha Jae-hoon’s home run to left field.
The fourth-ranked NC Dinos extended their winning streak to five games with a 5-3 upset victory over the KIA Tigers in Changwon. KIA suffered its third straight loss.
KIA leadoff hitter Choi Won-jun led off the game with a triple to center field, scored on a sacrifice fly by Kim Do-young, and then hit his first home run of the season with a two-run shot to right field in the third inning to account for all three of his team’s runs.
Kia starter Thomas Pannoni looked to be on his way to the win with five innings of seven-strikeout ball, but the game-winning run in the seventh inning came at the wrong time.
Trailing 0-3 in the bottom of the seventh, NC started the rally with a double to left-center field by pinch-hitter Seo Ho-cheol.
Lee Jun-young drew back-to-back walks and handed 바카라사이트 the baton to Choi Ji-min with the bases loaded. Choi looked to get out of the jam by getting Park Min-woo to fly out to center field, but Park gave up a popup to Park Gun-woo.
Soon after, Jason Martin took advantage of a shaky Choi Ji-min with a grand slam over the left field fence.
In the seventh inning, Kim Tae-hyun pitched a scoreless inning to earn his first win since his debut in 2020.
KT defeated the LG Twins 4-1 at Katie Wise Park in Suwon, South Korea, behind a stellar performance from “Twin nemesis” Wes Benjamin.
Benjamin pitched eight and a third innings of one-hit ball with nine strikeouts to improve to 10-3 on the season.
Benjamin solidified his status as a Twins hunter by going 4-0 with a 0.71 ERA against LG this year.
KT scored three runs in the third inning against LG ace Adam Plutko, who was pitching his second win against his former club this season.
With runners on first and second after a hit and a walk, Anthony Alford led off with a double to left-center field.
Park bunted and Plutko’s curveball bounced off the backstop for a one-base hit, scoring Kim Sang-soo from third. Alford, who went to third, scored the team’s third run on Park’s infield grounder.
KT capped the scoring in the seventh inning with an RBI double down the left field line.
LG scored one run in the top of the ninth, but the nine-hitter jinxed them and they lost their fourth straight game, one win shy of 50 for the season.