(MHN Sports Reporter Lee Kyu-won) After losing their third and fourth games in a row last week, the LG Twins and Lotte Giants won their first games of the week to rewrite the leaderboards in positions 1-3.

LG won its second straight game, defeating the Samsung Lions behind a strong performance from captain Oh Ji-hwan.

LG defeated Samsung 2-1 in their home game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on Wednesday to stay within 1.5 games of leaders SSG Landers.

LG, which held a one-game lead over SSG until the last day, regrouped to regain the top spot.

Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning after Samsung’s Kim Young-woong singled to right, Oh Ji-hwan tied the game with a double to right field.

LG tied the game at 1-1 with a sacrifice bunt by Moon Bo-kyung and a sacrifice fly by Lee Jae-won.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, LG had a chance to tie the game at 1-1 when Kim Min-sung walked and Kim Hyun-soo hit a sacrifice bunt in front of the third baseman. It was the second time in 15 years and nine months that Kim Hyun-soo laid down a sacrifice bunt since Sept. 22, 2007, against the Samsung Lions.

With runners on first and second, Oh lined a double to left-center to tie the game.

LG starter Adam Plutko gave up one run (unearned) in six innings, while Samsung left-hander Choi Chae-heung, who came straight off the bench the day before after being released from his job at Commerce, pitched 5⅓ scoreless innings in a tight pitching battle.

■ Yoon Dong-hee hits a come-from-behind three-run homer in front of Shin Dong-bin…Lotte regains third place

Lotte reclaimed third place with a 7-5 win over the Hanwha Eagles in front of owner Shin Dong-bin.

Lotte, which dropped out of the top three after 47 days two days ago, dropped the NC Dinos, who also lost, to fourth and moved up to third, keeping pace with the top two teams, the SSG Landers and LG Twins, who also won.

Down 2-3 in the bottom of the third inning, Lotte’s second-year big man Yoon Dong-hee hit a game-winning three-run homer to left-center field with runners on first and second and Hanwha starter Moon Dong-joo at the plate.

Lotte extended the lead to 6-3 in the bottom of the inning on Park Seung-wook’s RBI triple to right field.

Hanwha pulled within two runs in the top of the sixth as Chae Eun-sung and Choi Jae-hoon singled up the middle to put runners on first and third after a hit and a walk.

Lotte cut Hanwha’s deficit to one run in the bottom of the eighth when Ahn Chi-hong singled to right field with two outs.

Hanwha was unable to capitalize on its last chance with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth.

Lotte starters Charlie Barnes gave up three runs in 3⅓ innings and Moon Dong-ju gave up six runs in 2⅔ innings.

Jin Seung-hyun, the son of Kia Tigers head coach Jin Gap-yong, who came on in relief in the fourth inning and allowed two runs in 1⅔ innings, earned his first professional win.

SSG’s ‘Cuban Duo’ Elias throws 7 scoreless innings, Heredia hits 5 HRs

In Incheon, top-ranked SSG, led by the ‘Cuban Duo,’ snapped a three-game losing streak with an 8-1 victory over KT WIZ.

Cuban Roenis Elias pitched his first no-hitter (seven innings) in just his fourth game in the KBO and earned his third win in as many starts.

Guillermo Heredia, who hails from the same country as Elias, batted fourth and opened the scoring with a double to left field in the third inning for a 1-0 lead, then singled in the sixth and sprinted home from first on Choi Joo-hwan’s double to right field.

Heredia went 5-for-5 in a game for the first time in Korea.

SSG took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the eighth, scoring five runs on Kang Jin-sung’s pinch-hit double to center, Choi Ji-hoon’s triple to right and Choi Sang-min’s sacrifice fly to left field to pull away.

KT suffered its third straight loss after winning six straight.

■ Doosan’s Jang Won-jun pitched six scoreless innings for his third win of the season and 132nd of his career.

The Doosan Bears defeated the NC 11-4 in Changwon. NC’s winning streak came to a halt at five.

Doosan starter Jang Won-jun pitched a perfect sixth inning, laying the foundation for the big win and earning his third win of the season and 132nd career victory.

He allowed just three hits and one walk, and induced three double plays to erase the threat.

Doosan got on the board in the top of the third 먹튀검증 inning with runners on first and second on a two-run home run to left field by Kim Jae-hwan. Jae-hwan drove a pitch over the left field fence for his fifth home run of the season.

Doosan added two runs in the top of the fourth inning, capitalizing on an error by NC second baseman Park Min-woo, and made it 5-0 in the fifth with three straight hits, including back-to-back doubles by Yang Seok-hwan and Kim Jae-hwan and a single to left-center by Heo Kyung-min.

Kang Seung-ho drove in a run with a two-run arch into the left-center field stands in the seventh and a two-run shot to left-center in the ninth.

NC starter Lee Yong-jun was charged with five runs (four earned) on four hits and four walks in four innings.

The Doosan infield helped Jang get the win with clean fielding plays at first base in the first inning, first base in the second inning, and first and second base in the fourth inning.

■ ‘Groundball Factory’ Kiwoom Hura throws a no-hitter in 1-0 win over KIA

The Kiwoom Heroes extended their winning streak to three games with a 1-0 victory over the KIA Tigers at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. The eighth-ranked Kiwoom moved within two games of sixth-ranked KIA and half a game of seventh-ranked Samsung.

Kiwoom starting pitcher Ariel Hurtado easily cooked the KIA bats with six innings of three-hit ball with four strikeouts, snapping a four-game losing streak and earning his fourth win in his last seven starts. He also lowered his ERA from 3.10 to 2.86.

Furado utilized his sinking two-seam fastball in particular, inducing 11 outs on grounders.

Kiwoom scored its only run in the first inning thanks to a throwing error by KIA shortstop Park Chan-ho.

With runners on first and second in the first inning, Park shifted to second base and appeared to pick off Lee Jung-hoo’s line drive to center field, but Lee’s hit was too strong for Park to catch with his glove.

With runners on first and second, Addison Russell hit a clean single up the middle to bring home Kim Hye-sung from second.

KIA had a chance to tie the game in the top of the seventh with three walks, but Ryu Ji-hyuk was thrown out at second base to end the threat.

KIA left-hander Yang Hyun-jong, whose ERA has soared to the mid-4s in his last two games, took the loss after allowing one run (unearned) in five innings, but found solace in regaining his command of the game.