The KIA Tigers, who were running towards their first regular season championship in 7 years, were held back by the last-place Kiwoom Heroes.
However, with the second-place Samsung Lions also losing, KIA's magic number for winning the regular season was reduced to '2'.
LG Twins, in third place and hoping to quickly shake off fourth place, also lost.
KIA lost 5-10 to Kiwoom Heroes in a home game of the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League held at Gwangju Kia Champions Field on the 15th. KIA, which missed the opportunity to erase two magic numbers at once, cannot confirm the regular season championship even if it beats KT Wiz in Suwon on the 16th.
As things stand, the earliest KIA can secure the regular season championship is the 17th.
On the 15th, KIA allowed a comeback by giving up 6 runs in the top of the 5th inning when they were leading 3-2.
In the bottom of the 5th inning, with one out and a runner on first base, Yang Hyeon-jong gave up a two-run home run to left field to Kiwoom's Kim Keon-hee.
With runners on first and second base and one out, following Choi Joo-hwan's double to right-center and Kim Jae-hyeon's walk, Yang Hyeon-jong induced Park Su-jong to hit a grounder to the shortstop, but KIA shortstop Park Chan-ho threw a wild throw to second base, allowing Choi Joo-hwan to round third base and come home.
After that, KIA collapsed in a way that was not expected of a leader, as the new pitcher Im Ki-young threw a wild pitch, forced the opposing runner Park Su-jong into a rundown between third base and home plate, and allowed a run with poor defense.
Kiwoom caught KIA's ankle during their 6-game winning streak, but was pushed back significantly in head-to-head matches against KIA this season, with 5 wins and 11 losses. 6th place SSG defeated Samsung 14-9 in a fierce battle at Incheon home.
SSG, who defeated Samsung for two consecutive days, narrowed the gap with 5th place Doosan Bears to 2 games and kept their dream of advancing to the postseason alive.
The person who contributed most to the victory that day was Oh Tae-gon.
Oh Tae-gon came on as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 7th inning with two outs and a runner on second base and the score was 7-9, and hit a two-run home run to left field in the bottom of the 8th inning with two outs and a runner on second base and the score was 12-9.
Tae-gon Oh, who only had two plate appearances, had two hits, two home runs, and four RBIs in two at-bats.
On this day, SSG took a 5-1 lead into the fifth inning with a 3-run home run by Go Myeong-jun in the bottom of the 4th inning with the score tied 1-1 and runners on 1st and 2nd base.
Samsung counterattacked with a home run.
In the top of the 6th inning, with two outs and bases loaded, pinch hitter Kim Young-woong hit a game-tying grand slam.
When SSG took the lead again in the bottom of the 6th inning with a two-run home run by Guillermo Heredia with two outs and a runner on second base, Samsung succeeded in reversing the score at 9-7 in the top of the 7th inning with a three-run home run by Koo Ja-wook and a solo home run by Kang Min-ho.
However, SSG regained control in the bottom of the 7th.
With 2 outs and a runner on 2nd base, Oh Tae-gon, who came to bat instead of Ha Jae-hoon, hit a tying two-run home run over the right field fence off Oh Seung-hwan.
SSG, with momentum, turned the tide again, 10-9, with Park Sung-han's double to right field followed by Jeong Jun-jae's center-field RBI hit.
The 8th inning also marked the turning point.
With one out and a runner on third base, Lee Ji-young hit a 1-RBI double past the third baseman after Han Yu-seom's sacrifice bunt following Heredia's double.
SSG, which added one point with Go Myeong-jun's timely hit, solidified its victory by extending the lead to 14-9 with Oh Tae-gon's left-field two-run home run.
SSG finished the season series against Samsung with an advantage of 9 wins and 7 losses. The NC Dinos broke their five-game losing streak by beating LG 4-1 at home in Changwon.
Matt Davidson, the 'home run leader', hit the game-winning hit.
In the bottom of the first inning, with the score tied 0-0 and one out and a runner on first base, Davidson hit a slider on the first pitch from opposing starter Son Ju-young and hit a two-run home run over the right field fence. It was Davidson's 44th home run of the season.
In the 5th inning, after Park Min-woo got on base with a single to right field with one out, Kim Joo-won drove in Park Min-woo with a double to right field.
With runners on second and second base, Kim Hui-jip hit a 1-RBI center field hit.
LG recovered one run in the top of the 7th inning, trailing 0-4, with Oh Ji-hwan's walk and Park Dong-won's double to left field, and runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs, on Lee Young-bin's ground ball to the pitcher.
However, with runners on 2nd and 3rd base and Moon Sung-joo hitting a fly ball to left field, the runner on 2nd base, Park Hae-min, started too fast toward 3rd base and failed to return to base, losing the chance to catch up.
Although NC won that day, they are now behind LG with 4 wins and 12 losses in 16 matches against them this season. The Lotte Giants won a comeback victory over the Hanwha Eagles 16-9 at Sajik Stadium in Busan.
In the bottom of the 4th inning, when the score was 1-6, with one out, Lotte had 8 consecutive batters reach base, starting with Victor Reyes' double to right-center and ending with Ko Seung-min's double to right-center.
Son Ho-young was retired on a fly ball to shortstop, but Reyes, who came up to bat once more in the fourth inning, added a run by hitting a two-run home run to right field with two outs and a runner on third base.
Lotte turned the tide by scoring 9 runs in the 4th inning alone with 8 hits and 1 walk.
A total of 77,884 people entered the four stadiums where professional baseball games were held on this day, and this season's KBO League surpassed 10 million cumulative spectators for the first time ever (12,758).
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