The curse of the tiger’s hip was too powerful. The LG Twins, who had dreamed of winning from behind, fell to third place after losing two consecutive games to the top-ranked KIA Tigers.
At the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League KIA held at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Sunday local time, the team suffered a crushing defeat of 4-14 at home. Having suffered a bitter taste of defeat for two consecutive days, LG (60 wins, two draws and 51 losses) lost its second place to the Samsung Lions (62 wins, two draws and 52 losses, 0.544 wins) who won two consecutive games on the same day, and fell to the third place.메이저놀이터
LG was in the mood in the beginning of the game. While starting pitcher Son Joo-young blocked Kia’s lineup by allowing no runs through the fourth inning, the lineup scored the first run with Shin Min-jae’s ground ball at the bottom of the third inning with runners on the second and third bases with no outs.
Son, who was showing good pitching, was shaken by a tying solo shot by leadoff hitter Na Sung-bum in the top of the fifth inning. With the bases loaded with one out, Son gave up a sacrifice fly to Park Chan-ho with a fly to the left field, allowing the team to come from behind 1-2 times.
In the top of the sixth inning, the flow of the game completely shifted to KIA. Son Joo-young hit a right-handed hit by Kim Sun-bin with runners on the first and second bases with one out, making the score 1-3. LG added Jung Woo-young, but the mood got worse. With runners on the third base making a wild pitch with runners on the first and third bases with one out, the gap widened to 1-4.
Jung Woo-young struck out Byun Woo-hyuk and posted an out count for the second time, but dedicated two runs to the next batter, Han Jun-su. That was not the end. Jung Woo-young again walked a runner with two outs and a runner on the second base, and after the replacement, Park Myung-geun also walked the bases loaded. Finally, Park collapsed after a bases-loaded walk to Kim Do-young and a back-to-back home run to Socrates Brito. LG allowed nine runs in the sixth inning alone, extending the score to 1-11.
LG scored one point each in the sixth, eighth and ninth innings, but gave up three runs in the eighth inning, ultimately losing the game 4-14. Despite Choi Won-tae’s seven scoreless innings, LG suffered a shocking upset loss as closing pitcher Yoo Young-chan collapsed by allowing three runs on the previous day, but suffered a humiliating 10-point loss instead of avenging himself. The team’s record against LG for this season was 3 wins and 11 losses, exacerbating its “tiger phobia.”
In this season, LG is experiencing bitter taste in the “curse of the tiger’s buttocks,” in which it slides off the top-ranked KIA when it is in second place. Once trailing Kia by 1.5 games in the first half of the season, LG had one win, two losses and lost in the three consecutive games on June 18-20, falling to the third place.
After finishing second, 3.5 games behind KIA, LG met KIA again in the first three consecutive games of the second half (July 9-11). However, the result was a series sweep loss and a fall in fourth place.
After overcoming the shock, LG doggedly chased after the tiger again, narrowing its gap from once seven games to four. With four more games to go, LG needed to win in the three consecutive games, which was the last chance to come from behind to win. Rather, it lost two games, confirming its loosing series. After suffering from severe “curses of the tiger’s hips” throughout the season, LG could not overcome its jinx and thus the chance to win the come-from-behind victory became slim.