Seoul: Not all victories are created equal in a baseball season. A win in April can have as much of an impact on a team's success as one during a late stretch drive. And NC Dinos manager Lee Ho-joon is hoping his team's extra-inning victory over the best team in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) on Tuesday will be just the kind of turning point his charges will need.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the Dinos edged out the first-place LG Twins 6-5 in 10 innings at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul Tuesday night, after rallying from multiple deficits and then overcoming a late push by the Twins. The win snapped the Dinos' three-game losing streak and also handed the Twins their first consecutive loss of 2025.
In his pregame scrum Wednesday, Lee, the first-year manager, said he was "surprised" to see the level of concentration and determination among his players. "When they tied the game in the ninth inning, I felt we'd be in trouble and the game would get out of hand for us," Lee said in his typical candor. "But then I saw the look in our players, and I was surprised. I think they were really driven to win that game because everyone had been talking about how great the LG Twins are."
Lee reserved high praise for captain Park Min-woo, who went 3-for-5 for his second three-hit effort of the season. "Our captain led the way, and his younger teammates followed him naturally," the skipper added. "I think this win means so much because we sent the first-place team to their first losing streak this season. And I believe our players realized that they have what it takes to beat a team like that. This was more than just one win for us."
The Dinos are still mired in eighth place in the 10-team KBO with an 8-12-0 (wins-losses-ties) record. And this has been a trying season for them off the field, too. A Dinos fan suffered a traumatic head injury during the team's home game on March 29, in a freak incident when an aluminum panel fell off a window above a concession stand, and died two days later. Safety inspections that followed forced postponements of multiple games for the Dinos, who've also had to swap home games with their opponents. They've only played 20 games so far, while the Kiwoom Heroes have 26 games in the books already.
Lee said his plan prior to the season had been to settle on his starting lineup and complete his circle of trust in the bullpen by the 20-game mark. Injuries to some regulars, including the reigning home run king Matt Davidson, threatened to derail Lee's planning, but the manager said he's almost set. "From this point and on, I will try to keep four of the first five lineup spots intact and rotate a couple of guys in the cleanup spot until Davidson comes back," Lee said. "I don't want to move guys around too much now."