Twins rout Giants on KBO Opening Day

Moon Bo-gyeong of the LG Twins, left, celebrates after hitting a two-run home run against the Lotte Giants as Giants catcher Yoo Kang-nam looks on during the teams' Korea Baseball Organization Opening Day game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, March 22. Yonhap

Starter Yonny Chirinos threw six strong innings and cleanup Moon Bo-gyeong backed him up with a home run, as the LG Twins routed the Lotte Giants 12-2 to start the 2025 Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) season at home.

The Twins jumped on Giants starter Charlie Barnes for three runs in the bottom of the first inning at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. After Kim Hyun-soo doubled with one out, Austin Dean brought him home with a double of his own.

Moments later, Moon drilled a 0-2 slider from Barnes for a two-run shot, extending the Twins' lead to 3-0. It was the first home run by anyone in the KBO this season.

Barnes unraveled further in the bottom of the third. He gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases with one out, before walking No. 9 hitter Gu Bon-hyeok to push in a run that made it 4-0 Twins.

With Hong Chang-ki at the plate, Barnes threw a wild pitch to let in another run, and Hong cleared the bases with a two-run double to deep right-center that put the Twins up 7-0.

Barnes' counterpart, Chirinos, kept the Giants off the board through three innings before pitching himself into trouble in the top of the fourth.

After getting the first out of the inning, Chirinos gave up a double and two straight walks to load the bases. Son Ho-young, dropped down to No. 7 from his usual No. 3 spot due to spring training struggles, slapped a single to left to cash in two runners, cutting the deficit to 7-2.

Yoo Kang-nam's follow-up single loaded the bases again, but Chirinos avoided further damage with a strikeout and a pop out.

With Barnes now out of the game, the Twins got a run back in the bottom of the fourth with Song Chan-eui's two-out double off reliever Kim Gang-hyun.

The Twins regained their seven-run lead in the bottom of the fifth thanks to the Giants' third error of the game.

LG Twins starter Yonny Chirinos, left, is congratulated by first baseman Austin Dean after pitching a scoreless first inning against the Lotte Giants during the teams' Korea Baseball Organization Opening Day game at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, March 22. Yonhap

With one out and runners at first and second, Kim Hyun-soo chopped a grounder at second baseman Go Seung-min for what should have been an inning-ending double play. Instead, Go's toss sailed over the head of shortstop Park Seung-wook, allowing the lead runner, Gu Bon-hyeok, to come all the way home for a 9-2 lead.

The Twins piled on three more runs for good measure in the bottom of the eighth, highlighted by Oh Ji-hwan's solo blast.

The Twins outhit the Giants 15-7. The Giants walked five batters and made three errors.

After the hiccup in the fourth, Chirinos allowed just one more base runner over the next two innings. He held the Giants to two runs on five hits in six frames and struck out eight batters -- all of them fanning on his signature forkball.

Chirinos threw 103 pitches — 54 two-seam fastballs, 27 forkballs, 19 sliders and three four-seamers.

Twins manager Youm Kyoung-youb said the early offense provided enough fuel for the rest of the game.

"We grabbed the early momentum thanks to Austin's RBI and Bo-gyeong's home run. And we tacked on runs whenever we needed to pull away," Youm said. "Chirinos stumbled a bit in the fourth inning but he did his job as our starter. And then the bullpen took care of the rest. I hope Chirinos will keep winning more games going forward."

Moon said he was happy to have gone deep in his first at-bat of 2025, and being the first home run hitter in the entire KBO for 2025 made him feel even better.

"I swung the bat thinking it was a fastball, but it turned out to be a slider," Moon added. "I guess I was a bit nervous, being in my first at-bat in the first game of the season." (Yonhap)