Seoul: Cleanup Moon Bo-gyeong hammered a go-ahead, three-run home run in the bottom seventh, as the LG Twins defeated the Doosan Bears 4-2 to climb to the top of the South Korean baseball standings Tuesday night. With their seventh straight victory before 20,239 fans at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, the Twins improved to 62-40-2 (wins-losses-ties). With the Hanwha Eagles losing to the KT Wiz 5-2 to fall to 59-39-3 on Tuesday, the Twins reached first place for the first time since June 27. They were tied at the top with the Eagles then. The last time the Twins had been alone in first place was June 14.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Yang Eui-ji broke the ice for the Bears by leading off the top of the fourth inning with a solo home run off starter Son Ju-young. It was Yang's team-leading 16th home run of the season. Park Gye-beom extended the Bears' lead to 2-0 with his second double of the night that brought home Kim Jae-hwan, who had walked and stolen second to get himself into scoring position.
The Twins pulled within one in the bottom fourth. With no out and a runner at first, Park let a routine grounder go through his wickets, instead of turning a double play. With runners now at the corners, Gu Bon-hyeok made the Bears pay with an RBI single to left that cut the Bears' lead to 2-1. The Twins finally moved ahead in the seventh.
Bears right-handed reliever Lee Young-ha got two quick outs before serving up two straight singles. With the left-handed Moon Bo-gyeong due up, the Bears summoned lefty reliever Ko Hyo-jun. The strategy did not work, as Moon crushed a 1-2 slider and sent a moon shot into the seats in right field for the lead-flipping homer. It was Moon's team-best 21st homer, one shy of a career high set last season. With 85 RBIs, Moon is also on pace to shatter his personal high of 101 RBIs from 2024.
While the Bears' bullpen had a meltdown, four Twins relievers each threw a scoreless inning to back five solid innings by starter Son. The Bears put two runners on with no out in the top ninth against closer You Young-chan, who proceeded to strike out the next three batters for his 12th save. Son had a 21.60 ERA over two previous outings against the Bears but held them to two runs on four hits Tuesday. He had some help from his defense, none bigger than center fielder Park Hae-min's robbery in the second inning. Kim Jae-hwan drove a towering fly to right-center field, but Park climbed the wall to make a superb, Spider-Man catch just in front of the railings.