Seoul: A slow start to their South Korean baseball title defense now a distant memory, the LG Twins have strung together seven consecutive wins to shoot to the top of the standings. They now have a chance to extend that run against a slumping club to begin the new week.
According to Yonhap News Agency, after a 0-3 start, the Twins have gone 9-1, aided by the current seven-game winning streak -- the longest active run in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO). With a 9-4-0 (wins-losses-ties) record, the Twins are tied for first place with the KT Wiz. During their current winning streak, the Twins boast the KBO's lowest ERA at 2.57 and have scored the second-most runs leaguewide with 42.
The Twins will host the Lotte Giants (5-8-0) for three games starting Tuesday at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. The Giants only recently snapped their seven-game slide and saw a mini three-game winning streak come to an end Sunday in a 2-0 loss to last-place Kiwoom Heroes.
The Twins will then face a slightly tougher challenge on the weekend, as they visit third-place Samsung Lions (8-4-1) for three games beginning Friday in the southeastern city of Daegu.
The Wiz will have an easier week ahead, as they first visit the NC Dinos (6-7-0), losers of six straight, in the southeastern town of Changwon and then host the Heroes (4-9-0) in Suwon, just south of Seoul.
The SSG Landers began last week in first place but now find themselves in fourth place at 7-6-0, after dropping all five games last week. The Landers scored a league-best 68 runs in their first eight games of the season. In their five recent losses, though, they managed only 11 runs.
The Landers will try to right the ship this week against the Doosan Bears (4-8-1) and then the Dinos.
Elsewhere in the KBO, the Kia Tigers (6-7-0) are riding a four-game winning streak into the new week, with the Heroes and the Bears on the horizon.
The Hanwha Eagles, after getting swept by the Tigers to fall to 6-7-0, will host the Lions and then visit the Giants. The Eagles have sold out all eight home games so far at 17,000-seat Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in the central city of Daejeon, though they haven't given their faithful much to cheer about, with a 2-6-0 record on home soil.