LG Twins bcome first team in KBO to hit 50 wins this season

The defending Korean baseball champions, the LG Twins, have become the first club to win 50 games this season as they try to claim their second consecutive title.

The Twins held off the Kiwoom Heroes 7-5 at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Thursday to improve to 50 wins, 30 losses and zero ties for the season. They are in first place by 2 1/2 games over the Samsung Lions.

Over the history of the KBO, teams that beat others to the 50-game mark have gone on to finish first that season about 69 percent of the time — 25 out of 36. And 21 of those teams have also won the Korean Series titles.

The Twins are trying to become the first team to repeat as Korean Series winners since the 2015-16 Doosan Bears.

Austin Dean slugged his league-leading 27th home run in Thursday's win, and closer Son Ju-young pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his 19th save, only one behind the leader, Kim Jae-yoon of the Lions.

It was also Son's 14th consecutive save, a new franchise record.

Dean and Son have been the two biggest stars for the team that otherwise ranks in the middle of the pack in major hitting and pitching categories.

Now playing in his fourth KBO season, Dean is having an MVP-worthy campaign. In addition to leading the KBO in home runs, he has the highest on-base plus slugging with 1.110 and ranks second overall with 80 RBIs, 108 hits and a .350 batting average.

No Twins player has won a league home run title before.

Son only started his season in May after recovering from an oblique injury and was immediately thrust into the closer role after You Young-chan suffered a season-ending elbow injury. Son, who once said he had never closed games before — not even in high school — has been lights out.

He has a 1.09 ERA over 24 2/3 innings with 26 strikeouts, having allowed just three earned runs. He has yet to give up more than a run in any outing this year.

The KBO record for the consecutive saves is 28.

Yonhap