KIA Stumbled by Lotte... 'Third-Place Showdown' Against LG Today

[Anchor]

The battle for third place in professional baseball will ultimately come down to today's (the 12th) final game of the regular season. With KIA tripped up by Lotte, third place will be decided in today's head-to-head matchup between KIA and the fourth-place LG.

Reporter Yu Byeongmin has the details.

[Reporter]

KIA could have secured third place with a win, but its batting lineup simply failed to ignite.

The team was completely shut down by Lotte starting pitcher Kim Jin-wook, managing just three hits and no runs through six innings.

KIA starting pitcher Oller gave up his 207th hit of the season to Lotte's Reyes, the league leader in most hits, in the sixth inning before self-inflicting a bases-loaded crisis, and then allowed a grand slam over the center field wall to Handong.

With third-place KIA losing 4-1, its lead over fourth-place LG narrowed to half a game, meaning third place will be determined in today's final regular-season game between KIA and LG in Gwangju.

KIA's Yang Hyeon-jong and LG's Im Chan-kyu have been named as the starting pitchers for the all-or-nothing showdown carrying a direct ticket to the semi-playoffs.

KT's Hilliard hit consecutive home runs against Samsung, tying with KIA's Doyoung for the league lead at 44 home runs and leading his team to a resounding victory.

KT's Choi Won-joon, who is competing with Reyes for the most hits title, threw down his bat and showed displeasure after walking, prompting KT veteran catcher Jang Sung-woo to call a team meeting and sharply rebuke him.

[Jang Sung-woo / KT Catcher: Did you crawl out here just to pad your own stats! Act right. Does everyone understand!]

In the ninth inning, Choi Won-joon pulled within two hits of Reyes with his 205th hit of the season before shedding tears next to Jang Sung-woo.

(Video Editing: Hwang Ji-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.