LG Twins, KT Wiz off to fresh new start

Yang Suk-hwan of the LG Twins, left, slides into home plate to score on a single by Son Ju-in in the seventh inning of his team’s Korea Baseball Organization League game against the Nexen Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, Sunday. / Yonhap

By Baek Byung-yeul

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League kicked off its new season Friday and the LG Twins and KT Wiz got off to great starts sweeping their opening series.

The Twins, who finished fourth in regular season play last year, swept the three-game series against the Nexen Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome in southwestern Seoul. It was the first time for the Seoul-based team in 17 years to sweep its opening series. In 2000, the team took the opening series against the Lotte Giants in Busan.

After missing ace starter David Huff and closer Lim Jung-woo, who are on the disabled list, the Twins were expected to have tough early games, but the team made a great start in the new season, scoring 19 runs while allowing only six runs in three games.

Three of its starting pitchers were given wins. Henry Sosa pitched 6 1/3 innings on the opening game on Friday allowing only a run and Ryu Jae-kuk allowed three runs in five innings Saturday. On Sunday, Yoon Ji-woong, who had been a relief pitcher since last season, made his career-first start and impressed the Twins fans allowing only one run in 5 1/3 innings. The rest of the innings were thrown by six relievers and they kept the Heroes quiet allowing one run in three games.

The Twins will host the Samsung Lions in their home opener at Jamsil Baseball Stadium, southern Seoul beginning Tuesday through Thursday and then play an away series with the Giants in Busan from Friday to Sunday.

The KT Wiz has also been on a roll this spring. The team, which finished first in the spring exhibition games, swept their opening series against the Wyverns in Incheon.

Its new foreign starter Donn Roach took his first KBO win on Friday after tossing six innings only allowing two runs. Lefty Jung Dae-hyun was even better on Saturday, throwing a scoreless six innings by keeping the Wyverns hitters off-balance with his fastball-changeup combo. On Sunday, Ryan Feierabend also pitched well, allowing one run in seven innings. During the three games, its relievers kept the Wyverns off the scoreboard.

This week, the Wiz will have two home game series, the first series with the Doosan Bears from Tuesday to Thursday, the other with the Lions from Friday to Sunday.

The reigning champion Bears tallied two wins and a loss in their opening series against the Hanwha Eagles. After sharing one win and one loss in the first two games, the Bears picked up a 5-4 extra-inning win on Sunday thanks to Min Byung-hun’s walk-off hit in the bottom of the 12th inning.

After having a three-game series with the Wiz during the weekdays, the Bears will host the Heroes this weekend.

The Giants, who took two wins and a loss against the rival NC Dinos last week, will host the Heroes in the weekdays while the Kia Tigers, who also picked up two wins and one loss against the Lions last week, will host the Wyverns for the three-game series beginning Tuesday.