The defending champions LG Twins find themselves on the brink of elimination from the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason Thursday, as they are trailing the Samsung Lions 2-0 in their best-of-five series.
In losing the first two games by a combined score of 20-9, the Twins surrendered eight home runs and hit just three themselves, two of which came in the ninth inning of the 10-5 loss in Game 2 on Tuesday.
Twins captain Kim Hyun-soo, who smoked a three-run shot in that ninth inning, said his homer was ultimately “meaningless” because his team still lost and the teams had a day off immediately following Game 2.
In both losses, the Twins didn’t get much going against starting pitchers, Denyi Reyes and then Won Tae-in. Kim said he and his teammates might have been too afraid of making mistakes at the plate in the two earlier games and they should be more aggressive Thursday.
“Their pitchers have been great and we haven’t had any answers,” Kim told reporters after his batting practice at Jamsil Base
ball Stadium in Seoul. “But instead of trying not to get beat, we have to try to go down swinging even if we don’t get the win.”
Park Hae-min, the other home run hitter for the Twins in Game 2, said he and his teammates should try to put up some early runs on the board and take control of the game.
The first two games were played at Daegu Samsung Lions Park, the most homer-happy stadium in the league. Now that the series is at Jamsil, the largest stadium in the KBO where deep fly balls go to die on the warning track, both clubs are expected to try to manufacture runs, via opposite field hits, sacrifice bunts and steals, rather than swing for the fences every time.
The Twins ranked second in the regular season with 171 steals and Park, who contributed 43 steals, said speed can make a difference at Jamsil.
“Stealing bases has been our identity the past couple of years and I think it will give us the best chance to win here,” Park said. “If we can get on base as well as we did during the regular season, then
we will be on the move and try to make life difficult for the other team.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency
