Seoul: With his team having wasted multiple opportunities to lock down the best regular-season record in South Korean baseball, LG Twins manager Youm Kyoung-youb turned philosophical Wednesday, expressing his continued faith in his players while appreciating the position they’re in at the moment.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the Twins could have clinched the pennant in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) on Monday with a win over the Hanwha Eagles but lost 7-3. They had another opportunity Tuesday against the Doosan Bears, a team long out of postseason contention, but lost 6-0 after managing only three hits. An Eagles loss to the Lotte Giants on Tuesday would have taken care of it for the Twins but the Eagles beat the Giants 1-0.
The Twins will take one last crack at winning the pennant on their own Wednesday, as they host the NC Dinos in their final game of the season. Win and the Twins will earn the top seed and the bye to the Korean Series. Lose and they will have to wait to see how the Eagles play against the SSG Landers on Wednesday and then the KT Wiz on Friday, the last day of the regular season. A tiebreaker game for first place will be a possibility in that scenario.
“We’ve been through so much already this year,” Youm said during his pregame media scrum at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. “We’ve had so much adversity over the course of this season, and the players have been able to overcome it all. That’s why we are where we are. I hope we have a good finish to the season and I am confident the players will get it done.”
Yonny Chirinos will get the start for the Twins, and another starting pitcher, Son Ju-young, will be available to go two or three innings out of the bullpen, Youm said. Son came down with flu over the weekend but is doing much better after receiving some IV injections the past two days. That Youm has to lean on a starter to cover middle innings says a lot about the state of the Twins’ bullpen. Their relievers posted the worst collective ERA in September at 7.01.
Youm also made a lineup change, moving his usual cleanup hitter Moon Bo-gyeong down to No. 7 spot. Moon batted just .158 with zero homers and three RBIs in 17 games in September – by far his worst numbers in any month this season. “I want him to hit in a less stressful situation,” Youm said. “He is still our cleanup guy when all is said and done. He has to turn things around for us to be at our best.”
Moon and his teammates will be up against little-used Dinos starter Kim Tae-gyeong, who has only thrown 10 innings this season and has an 11.70 ERA. For what it’s worth, he held the Twins scoreless over 3 2/3 innings in a preseason game in March this year. “If we don’t get to him, we’ll just have to accept it and move on,” Youm said. “We have to grab the early momentum today.”