Doosan Secures 5th Place for First Half After Defeating SSG; Gwak Been Pitches 7 Innings of 1-Run Ball

The Doosan Bears have finished the first half of the KBO League season in 5th place.
Doosan secured a 7-3 victory against the SSG Landers in their home game of the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League regular season held at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul today (July 8), fueled by a total of 12 hits.
With this win, Doosan extended its lead over the 6th-place Hanwha Eagles, who did not play today due to rain, to 1.5 games. Consequently, Doosan has clinched 5th place for the first half, regardless of the outcome of their final first-half game against SSG on July 9.
Doosan turned the game around in the bottom of the 2nd inning after trailing 0-1.
With one out and runners on second and third—set up by consecutive hits from Yang Eui-ji and An Jae-seok and a sacrifice bunt by Park Chan-ho—Jung Soo-bin hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1-1. Following that, with two outs and a runner on third, Yoon Jun-ho hit a two-run home run over the left-field fence.
SSG pulled their starting pitcher Jeon Yeong-jun after he was hit hard and brought in the bullpen, but the Doosan lineup continued its momentum.
Doosan extended the lead to 5-1 with an RBI hit by Kang Seung-ho in the 4th inning and a leadoff solo home run by Park Jun-soon in the 5th.
In the 6th inning, with no outs and runners on first and third, the team added another run through a combination of a groundout by Jo Su-haeng and an opponent's error, before a sacrifice fly by Yang Eui-ji widened the gap to 7-1.
In the top of the 8th inning, after starter Gwak Been had left the mound, Park Chi-guk allowed a two-run home run to SSG's Choi Jun-woo, but the team did not allow any further runs and closed out the game.
Gwak Been held the opposition to 1 run on 2 hits and 1 walk with 7 strikeouts over 7 innings, earning his 8th win of the season (3 losses).
(Photo courtesy of Doosan Bears, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.