'Up↑ Down↓ All 4.5G' Doosan at Crossroads, KBO's Top Ace Takes the Mound; Manager Says, "If He Pitches Until the 7th Inning Today..." [Jamsil On-Site]

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Will Doosan Bears climb higher, or will they fall further? The gap to both the fourth-place and sixth-place teams is exactly 4.5 games. At this critical juncture, Kwak Bin, KBO League's top ace, will make his starting appearance. Doosan has announced its starting lineup for the matchup against SSG Landers.

Doosan will face SSG at Seoul Jamsil Baseball Stadium on the 9th at 6:30 p.m. in a regular-season home game of the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League.

Doosan currently holds sole fifth place in the league with a record of 62 wins, 58 losses, and 4 ties. They trail fourth-place KIA Tigers by 4.5 games and are also 4.5 games ahead of sixth-place NC Dinos.

However, the team has struggled recently, going 1 win and 4 losses in their last five games. In yesterday's (the 8th) away game against Hanwha Eagles in Daejeon, they failed to mount any significant effort and lost 1-6.

For today's game, Doosan set its starting lineup as follows: Park Chan-ho (shortstop), Ahn Jae-seok (third baseman), Park Jun-soon (second baseman), Yang Eui-ji (designated hitter), Kim Min-seok (left fielder), Kang Seung-ho (first baseman), Jung Soobin (center fielder), Jo Su-haeng (right fielder), and Yoon Joon-ho (catcher). Kwak Bin will start on the mound.

Kwak Bin has appeared in 25 games this season, posting a record of 11 wins and 6 losses with an ERA of 2.31. Against SSG this season, he has started three games, recording two wins and one loss with an ERA of 2.37.

Ahead of today's game, Doosan manager Kim Won-hyeong said about Kwak Bin: "Rather than asking him to pitch for a long time, (Kwak) Bin should just maintain his own natural pace. He pitched seven innings in the last game, but I believe that if he can reliably cover six innings, we can still manage the game well enough. It would be ideal if he could pitch until the seventh inning today as well, but if he can securely hold through the sixth inning at full fitness, there are relievers ready to take over for the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings." He expressed confidence in Kwak Bin's ability.

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original