Top-ranked Eagles take aim at franchise winning streak record; slugger eyes milestone home run

Hanwha Eagles players celebrate their 8-0 win over the Kiwoom Heroes in a Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap

The Hanwha Eagles, the best team in Korean baseball at the moment, have not lost since the calendar flipped to May.

After sweeping the last-place Kiwoom Heroes in their three-game weekend series, the Eagles stretched their winning streak to 12 games — their longest since they won 14 in a row in May 1992.

And they will now have a six-game homestand this week in Daejeon, some 140 kilometers south of Seoul, to try to set a new franchise mark.

With a record of 27-13-0 (wins-losses-ties), the Eagles lead the LG Twins (26-14-0) by a game in first place in the 10-team Korea Baseball Organization (KBO). The Eagles will open the week with a three-game series against the Doosan Bears starting Tuesday, followed by a three-game set against the SSG Landers from Friday to Sunday at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark.

The Eagles have been getting sublime starting pitching throughout their streak, and their top two starters, Cody Ponce and Ryan Weiss, delivered the goods once again on the weekend.

Ponce held the Heroes to a run on three hits in six innings in a 9-1 victory Saturday. Then Weiss tossed eight scoreless innings while giving up just one hit Sunday for an 8-0 win.

Ryu Hyun-jin, former major league ERA champion who is 4-1 with a 2.91 ERA this season, is lined up to start Tuesday's game.

After the Eagles host the Bears, they will bring home the Landers, who took two out of three against the defending champions Kia Tigers over the weekend at home in Incheon, just west of Seoul.

Choi Jeong of the SSG Landers hits a groundball against the Kia Tigers during a Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon, Sunday. Yonhap

Landers slugger Choi Jeong is one home run away from becoming the first player in KBO history with 500.

Choi hit his 499th home run Saturday, before going 0-for-6 with three walks while playing both games of a doubleheader Sunday.

The Landers will stay home from Tuesday to Thursday to host the NC Dinos before hitting the road.

In both games on Sunday, every trip Choi took to the plate caused a scene in the left-field bleachers, with glove-wielding fans crowding the area in anticipation of a historic home run.

To a fan who catches the ball, the Landers will offer a package of gifts worth 17 million won ($12,200), including a pair of season tickets, multiple gift certificates and an invitation to watch a Landers game from a luxury box.

Entering the new week, only the top three clubs — the Eagles, the Twins and the Lotte Giants (24-16-2) — are sitting over .500 in winning percentage.

The Dinos, who have been on the road since their home stadium, Changwon NC Park, closed down in light of a tragic incident on March 29, have strung together seven straight wins to jump from ninth place on May 1 to fourth place as of Monday at 17-18-1.

The Samsung Lions have dropped a season-worst eight straight games but are somehow still in fifth place at 19-21-1. The KT Wiz (18-20-3) are the losers of five straight, and they are tied for sixth place with the Landers (18-20-1).

The Tigers, with their roster decimated by injuries, have not yet overcome a slow start and fell to 17-21-0 after losing both of the doubleheaders versus the Landers on Sunday.

The Bears are fading fast at 16-22-2. The Kiwoom Heroes continue to bring up the rear at 13-30-0.