1st place SSG Landers (40 wins, 1 tie, 24 losses, 0.625 winning percentage), 2nd place LG Twins (40 wins, 2 ties, 25 losses, 0.615 winning percentage)

The top two teams in the KBO, SSG and LG, maintained their six-figure winning percentages to reach the 40-win mark.

SSG maintained its 0.5-game lead with a win over the Doosan Bears.

LG extended its lead to 3.5 games by defeating the third-place NC Dinos, who have the best winning percentage in June (11 wins, 4 losses, 1 tie, 0.733 winning percentage).

Outside of the top two, only the third-place NC Dinos (35 wins, 1 draw, 27 losses, 0.565 winning percentage) and fourth-place Lotte Giants (32 wins, 30 losses, 0.516) have maintained a five-figure winning percentage, while the fifth-place Doosan Bears (30 wins, 1 draw, 32 losses, 0.484) to ninth-place Samsung Lions (26 wins, 38 losses, 0.406) are struggling with a four-figure winning percentage, and the last-place Hanwha Eagles (24 wins, 4 draws, 37 losses, 0.393) have failed to break out of the three-figure range.

LG snapped a four-game losing streak against NC with a 9-3 victory in the visiting team’s 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League opener at Changwon NC Park in Gyeongnam, South Korea, thanks to Hong Chang-ki’s RBI double in the top of the 10th inning of a 3-3 tie.

LG gave up two home runs to Park Gun-woo (1) and Yoon Hyung-jun (2) in the bottom of the fourth inning after leading 1-0 to fall to 1-3.

LG pulled within one run in the top of the sixth on a leadoff single by Park Hae-min, a stolen base and a sacrifice fly by Hong Chang-ki, and tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the eighth on a double to right by Moon Bo-kyung and an RBI single by Park Hae-min.

After NC had runners on first and second with no outs in the bottom of the ninth against LG closer Ko Woo-seok, but squandered the opportunity with a strikeout and pinch runner Jason Martin’s grounder to third, LG broke the game open in extra innings.

With runners on second and third after a passed ball, infield hit, and sacrifice bunt, Hong Chang-ki hit a game-winning double to center field.

Hong scored on Jung Joo-hyun’s infield single, and Moon Sung-joo, who reached on an error by the second baseman, came home on Park Dong-won’s double down the left-field line.

No. 1 Hong Chang-ki went 3-for-3 with a double and three RBIs, while No. 8 Park Hae-min went 5-for-4 with two RBIs.

Park stole second base in the sixth inning to become the 10th player in history to reach 350 stolen bases.

SSG Choi Ji-hoon hit the game-winning hit with runners on first and second in the fifth inning. [Yonhap News]

SSG’s Oh Won-seok pitched five scoreless innings to win…Doosan’s Choi Won-jun gave up two runs in 5⅓ innings to lose.

The top-ranked SSG Landers defeated the Doosan Bears 3-1 at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul. Fifth-place Doosan suffered its third straight loss.

It was a frustrating game that saw both teams combine for 27 extra-base hits (13 for SSG and 14 for Doosan).

SSG scored the game-winning run in the fifth inning on Choi Ji-hoon’s priority double with runners on first and second, and added a run in the sixth inning by combining three hits.

In the ninth, Choi doubled and Guillermo Heredia followed with a single up the middle.

Doosan saved a serious lack of finishing touches in the ninth inning, after blowing three tying runs in the first, fifth and sixth innings, with runners on first and second after back-to-back singles by Yang Seok-hwan and Yang Ji, Kang Seung-ho singled up the middle to escape the shutout.

SSG starter Oh Won-seok was lucky to get the win after giving up four hits and five walks in five innings, while Doosan starter Choi Won-jun took the loss after giving up two runs in 5 1/3 innings.

Hanwha Eagles’ Kim In-hwan hits a two-run single in the third inning. [Courtesy of the Hanwha Eagles]

Hanwha snaps three-game losing streak with 13th home run in second straight game

In Daejeon, the Hanwha Eagles defeated the self-destructive KIA Tigers, 7-4, with nine walks. Hanwha snapped a three-game losing streak, while KIA slipped to seventh place in the standings.

Trailing 0-1 in the bottom of the third inning, Hanwha scored three runs thanks to a bad pitch from KIA starter Adonis Medina.

Medina gave up three consecutive singles to load the bases with nobody out.

Kim Yoo-shin, who took over the mound with the bases loaded, hit an RBI double to right field off Kim In-hwan.

After KIA got a run back on a wild pitch by Hanwha pitcher Felix Peña, Lee Woo-sung tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the fifth inning with runners on first and second.

Hanwha scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the fifth when Lee Jin-young, who led off with a walk, made a deft sliding catch on Kim In-hwan’s priority double.

Moon Hyun-bin’s sacrifice fly to center field made it 5-3, and Jung Eun-won followed with an RBI single to right in the sixth.

Noh hit a solo shot in the eighth to seal the win. Noh homered for the second straight day, increasing his season total to 13.

Kiwoom outfielder Kim Jun-wan showed impressive defense with an accurate throw home in the sixth and a diving catch in the 10th inning. [Yonhap]]

■ Kiwoom wins 4 in a row, jumps to 6th…Samsung loses again, 0.5 games behind last-place Hanwha

The Kiwoom Heroes defeated the Samsung Lions 2-0 in Daegu to move up one spot to sixth place with their fourth straight win.

After starting pitchers Chung Chan-heon (Kiwoom) and Won Tae-in (Samsung) tossed side-by-side seven scoreless innings to lead the pitching battle, it came down to a bullpen duel in the 10th inning.

Lee Jung-hoo singled to right and Lee Won-seok, who played for Samsung until the beginning of the season, followed with a double to right-center to put runners on second and third with no outs.

Kiwoom scored two runs on two sacrifice flies by Lim Byung-wook and Kim Dong-heon.

Kim Jun-wan, who played left field as Kiwoom’s No. 1 hitter, caught Lee Jae-hyun’s single to left field with two outs in the top of the sixth inning and threw home Kim Hyun-joon.메이저사이트

In the bottom of the 10th inning, he made a diving catch on a hit by pinch-hitter Ahn Joo-hyung to help secure the win with his impressive defense.

KT WIZ’s Kim Sang-soo went 3-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs scored. [Courtesy of KT WIZ]

■ KT WIZ’s Kim Sang-soo went 5-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs scored to lead the team to its fifth straight win against Lotte.

KT WIZ pounded out 14 hits at home in Suwon to defeat the Lotte Giants 8-2 and extend its winning streak to five games against Lotte.

Eighth-place KT has won six of its last seven games and is within striking distance of a mid-table finish.

After giving up a run in the second inning on a fielding error, KT cut the deficit to 2-1 in the third on back-to-back RBI singles by Anthony Alford and Byung-ho Park.

After adding another run in the fifth on three consecutive singles by Kim Sang-soo, Kim Min-hyuk, and Alford, KT took the lead for good in the sixth on Hwang Jae-gyun’s RBI triple to right-center field with the bases loaded.