In fact, chasing the lead has become difficult. It is now a matter of pride. The LG Twins will challenge themselves to escape from the “tiger phobia” they are tired of.
LG will face off against the KIA Tigers in the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League regular season game that will take place at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field on Thursday. LG announced its “winning pitcher” Elieizer Hernandez and Kia announced its “big pitcher” Yang Hyun-jong as starting pitchers.
LG, which currently ranks third (65 wins, two draws and 57 losses, 0.533), is lagging far behind Kia (75 wins, two draws and 49 losses, 0.605) in a whopping nine matches. As only 20 games are left until the end of the season, it is practically hard to surpass the top spot in the regular season. To achieve the goal of winning the Korean Series for the second consecutive year, LG should catch up with the second-ranked Samsung Lions (69 wins, two draws and 56 losses, 0.552) who narrowed the gap by 2.5 games, and seek to advance directly to the playoffs.먹튀검증
The biggest obstacle to LG’s goal of “two consecutive wins in a row” this season was its performance against Kia. It suffered from overwhelming inferiority by posting three wins and 12 losses in 15 games. It displayed even performance when facing other top-tier teams, including Samsung (six wins, one draw and eight losses) and Doosan Bears (seven wins and six losses), but was particularly weak against Kia.
Notably, LG was properly caught up in the so-called “slippery when a tiger touches its butt” curse at a time when it was closely chasing the No. 1 ranking. LG, which had been closely trailing Kia by 1.5 games in June, lost one win, two losses and lost in the three consecutive games on June 18-20, falling to third place.
After finishing second, 3.5 games behind the team’s lead, LG met KIA in the first three consecutive games of the second half (July 9-11) and challenged to avenge its loss. However, the team came back after suffering a series sweep loss and a fall to fourth place.
After overcoming the shock, LG narrowed the gap, which once widened to seven games, to four games, and seized the opportunity to pursue Kia once again ahead of the three consecutive games (August 16-18). If LG successfully swept the game, it could have narrowed the gap to one game. However, it lost three games this time, let alone the Winning Series or the Losing Series. As the gap widened to seven games, it effectively dampened Kia’s willingness to pursue the lead.
Already, LG has been mired in a seven-game losing streak against KIA. If the relationship between the two teams is solidified, it will inevitably shrink psychologically if it encounters Kia on the fall baseball stage.
To overcome the “tiger phobia,” Hernandez, the winning contractor, will join the team. Hernandez, who challenged the KBO League as a substitute for Casey Kelly, a long-time foreign pitcher who accompanied him for six seasons, raised expectations by showing off his outstanding strikeouts in two consecutive games against the Doosan Bears (seven strikeouts and one run in five innings) and the Hanwha Eagles (nine strikeouts and one run in six innings) on August 14.
Since then, the match against SSG Landers (four walks and two runs in four innings) and the Kiwoom Heroes (two homers and four runs in seven innings) have slowed down a bit, but he took the mound in relief against KT Wiz on August 29 and recorded a hold with three strikeouts and no runs in one inning, erasing concerns. However, the consecutive pitching failed as he felt a feeling of shoulder clumping due to the one-inning all-out pitching, and he will start again against KIA on the 3rd. Attention is focusing on whether Hernandez will be able to block KIA’s batters and save LG from “tiger phobia” by playing good pitching that meets the expectations of “first starter.”