The Kia Tigers are one step closer to winning their first regular season title in seven years.
Kia rallied from a 1-2 deficit in the bottom of the ninth inning to win 3-2 against the Kiwoom Heroes of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League on Thursday at Kia Champions Field in Gwangju, South Korea.
With their six-game winning streak, the top-ranked Kia extended their lead over second-place Samsung Lions by 7.5 games with the loss.
The magic number to win the regular season title, which would give them a direct ticket to the Korean Series, is now down to three.
With both teams' foreign pitchers, Ariel Hurtado and Eric Stout, on the mound, KIA struck first.
Kia took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when Choi Hyung-woo hit a solo shot to left field.
Kiwoom tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the sixth when leadoff hitter Lee Ju-hyung reached on an error and came home on Choi Joo-hwan's single to center.
In the top of the eighth, Choi Joo-hwan hit a two-run double down the right field line to make it 2-1.
However, Kia came back in the bottom of the ninth with its final offense.
After back-to-back singles by Socrates Brito and Choi Won-jun and a wild pitch by Kim Do-young loaded the bases with nobody out, Kia scored the dramatic comeback victory when Choi Hyung-woo hit a single to right field off Kiwoom closer Joo Seung-woo to load the bases with two outs.
Choi, the centerpiece of the KIA batting order, had all three of his hits on the day.
In Jamsil, where the fourth- and fifth-place teams clashed, the Doosan Bears, who utilized all of their top pitchers, edged out KT WIZ 2-1.
With the win, Doosan moved within half a game of KT and will look to overturn the standings.
KT took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Mel Rojas Jr. drew a walk, 메이저사이트 advanced to third on Jang Sung-woo's single to left and scored on an error.
Doosan tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the second when Kang Seung-ho, who led off with a double, came home on a wild pitch from KT pitcher Ko Young-pyo.
In the third inning, Jeong Soo-bin hit an RBI single to center field to make it 2-1.
With the lead in hand, Doosan held on for the one-run victory after starter Kwak Bin Kwak went five innings of two-hit, one-run ball (unearned), followed by Lee Young-ha (1⅔ innings), Lee Byeong-heon (⅔ innings), Hong Gun-hee (⅓ innings), and Kim Taek-yeon (1⅓ innings).
In Changwon, the LG Twins defeated the NC Dinos 10-7.
LG scored two runs in the first inning on three hits, including a two-run double by Moon Bo-kyung, and added a run in the second on a sacrifice fly by Hong Chang-ki to take a 3-0 lead.
NC got one run back in the bottom of the third when Kim Joo-won tripled and scored on Kwon Hee-dong's RBI single.
However, LG scored one run in the top of the fourth inning on an RBI single by Hong Chang-ki and then scored five runs in the top of the fifth inning on a series of errors to take a 9-1 lead.
NC scored four runs in the seventh and two in the eighth, but couldn't pull away.
LG starter Eliezer Hernandez pitched six innings, allowing one run on four hits to earn the win.
NC starter Eric Yokishi took the loss, allowing nine runs (five earned) on 11 hits in 4 1/3 innings.
In Incheon, the SSG Landers pulled off a thrilling come-from-behind victory over the Samsung Lions, 11-9.
SSG opened the scoring in the top of the first inning when leadoff hitter Park Sung-yi hit a solo shot to left field, and took a 2-0 lead in the second on an RBI single by Lee Ji-young.
Samsung got one run back in the top of the third on Kim Ji-chan's RBI single to right, but SSG scored two runs in the bottom of the inning on back-to-back doubles by Choi Jung and Guillermo Heredia and an RBI single by Oh Tae-gon to take a 4-1 lead.
Samsung scored seven runs in the top of the fourth inning, including a grand slam by Koo Ja-uk, to take an 8-4 lead.
SSG fought back, scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on RBI singles by Park Sung-han and Jung Jun-jae.
Trailing 7-9 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Lee Ji-young hit a two-run single to left field after a walk to make it 10-9.
In the bottom of the eighth, two batters later, Han Yoo-seom added a run with a double to right-center to win the game.
SSG's starter Drew Anderson was pulled after giving up eight runs in four innings, but the bullpen of Moon Seung-won, Noh Kyung-eun, and Cho Byung-hyun shut down the seventh through ninth innings to secure the win.
In Busan, the Lotte Giants defeated the Hanwha Eagles 12-9 to move back into seventh place a day later.
Lotte jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a leadoff homer by Yoon Dong-hee, followed by an RBI single by Victor Reyes and a two-run shot to left by Jeon Jun-woo.
Hanwha cut the deficit to 4-2 in the top of the third inning when Kwon Kwang-min led off with a double to right-center, followed by RBI singles by Lee Jin-young and Moon Hyun-bin.
However, Lotte took advantage of an error in the bottom of the fourth inning and scored six runs on six hits to take a 10-2 lead.
Hanwha got three runs back in the top of the seventh inning on a two-run double by Hwang Young-mook.
Trailing 5-12 in the top of the eighth, they scored four runs, including a two-run double by Moon Hyun-bin, but were unable to overcome the deficit.
LOTTE starter Barnes pitched six innings, allowing two runs on six hits to improve to 9-5 on the season.