Wyverns, Giants, Twins get off to fast start

By Cho Mu-hyun

If anything, the games this past weekend among the eight domestic clubs suggest that the six-month race for the baseball title will be varied and full of unexpected outcomes.

To start with, at Daegu, the domestic title holder Samsung Lions lost two consecutive matches against the LG Twins at home.

The Sunday fixture was especially tense as it saw both sides deadlocked without any runs until the seventh inning.

Lions starter Jang Won-sam frustrated the Twins’ batting line-up with 8 strikeouts in the 7 1/3 inning. But LG’s offense rallied in the eighth inning to score three runs, while Samsung trailed behind and failed to equalize despite managing two runs in the ninth. The two wins were a boost to the team that had been bogged down by the involvement of its players in match-rigging schemes.

At Incheon, the Kia Tigers could not break their almost near-decade long jinx of losing in the openers, yielding two straight games against the home side, the SK Wyverns.

On Sunday, the Wyverns’ defense blocked the Tigers even without franchise pitcher Kim Kwang-hyun playing thanks to a stellar performance by starter Yoon Hee-sung for seven innings.

The SK led from the start thanks to Lim Hoon’s long hit to the right field that helped three runners on the field to all hit the home plate. They added another in the fourth to gain a good lead with the Tigers scoring no runs until the ninth.

At Busan, the Lotte Giants came from behind to thrash the visiting team, the Hanwha Eagles, 10-5 to mark two victories at home.

The Eagles lost on Saturday but seemed eager to turn the tables on Sunday with slugger Kim Tae-kyun marking three RBIs early in the game until the third inning for a 5-1 lead over the Giants.

But Lotte’s powerful batters rallied for a stellar seven runs in the fourth, their rotation coming full circle and nullifying An Seung-min’s start with solid pitches.

At Jamsil, the Doosan Bears and bottom-seed Nexen Heroes had a tug-of-war that saw a total of 40 hits in the game.

With the loss on Saturday behind them, the Bears and Heroes marked runs in every inning of the match except the sixth. Nexen seemed the victor in the seventh when they led with 11-8 during the eigth inning, until starting with Ko Yeong-min’s long hit, Doosan rallied at scored five straight runs to clinch a 13-11 win.