'Left, left, left, left, left, left, left' Yeom Kyung-yeop's well-grounded 'left-right game': "With such a big difference between left and right..." LG Twins focus their attack on the first opponent, Owen White [Jamsil On-site]

*This content was translated by AI.

Seven left-handed batters were placed in the starting lineup. Excluding home run leader Austin Dean and catcher Lee Ju-heon, all others are left-handed batters. Yeom Kyung-yeop (58), manager of the LG Twins, had a plan.

LG will face the Hanwha Eagles at Seoul Jamsil Baseball Stadium on the 3rd in a 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League home game.

Although they are leading by 2.5 games, a victory is urgently needed to finish the first half of the season from a more secure position. Moreover, since their record against Hanwha this season stands at 3 wins and 3 losses, it is necessary to establish a clear advantage through this series.

LG set its starting lineup for the day as Hong Chang-ki (right fielder), Park Hae-min (center fielder), Austin Dean (first baseman), Moon Bo-kyung (designated hitter), Cheon Seong-ho (third baseman), Moon Sung-ju (left fielder), Lee Young-bin (shortstop), Lee Ju-heon (catcher), and Shin Min-jae (second baseman). Lachlan Wells was the starting pitcher.

Many fans have expressed resentment toward the "mechanical left-right game" of matching left-handed pitchers with right-handed batters and vice versa, but manager Yeom's choice had a clear reason. Hong Chang-ki was also placed at the top of the lineup for the first time in a while.

Manager Yeom stated, "Looking at the data, Owen White's batting average against is nearly 10 points different between left-handed and right-handed batters, so we put in all left-handed batters."

White suffered an injury early in the season and appeared in only 9 games, but he has been fulfilling the role of Hanwha's ace. He pitched 50 innings, recording a quality start (6 or more innings with 3 or fewer earned runs) in more than half of those 5 games, and currently holds a record of 4 wins and 4 losses with an ERA of 3.24.

However, he had a clear weakness against left-handed batters. While his batting average against right-handed batters was a solid 0.198, it rose to 0.292 when facing left-handed batters.

Manager Yeom would not miss this opportunity. "The fact that the batting average against differs so much is definitely significant from a data perspective," he said, adding, "Moreover, he is the first pitcher we face. We tend to be weaker against pitchers we meet for the first time, so we trusted the data and lined up all left-handed batters."

In particular, Cheon Seong-ho shows a batting average of 0.322 against right-handed pitchers, a significant difference from his season batting average of 0.284. Shin Min-jae, who has recently been performing well, also showed stronger results against right-handed pitchers (0.257) compared to his season batting average (0.244), so his performance today is expected.

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*This content was translated by AI.