“A bolt from the blue”: LG faces another critical injury crisis ahead of trip to Gwangju; Manager Yeom Kyung-yeop sighs, “It doesn’t look easy” [WC1 On-site]

*This content was translated by AI.View Original

The LG Twins advanced to the Junior Playoffs (Junior PO, best-of-five series) by concluding the Wild Card series with just a single game. However, they were struck by another bolt from the blue as an injury occurred. Shin Min-jae, who had been performing as the starting second baseman, suffered a critical hamstring injury.

On the 14th at Seoul Jamsil Stadium, LG defeated the Doosan Bears 4-1 in Game 1 of the Wild Card round of the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO Postseason.

In the Wild Card series, a team ranked fourth in the regular season can advance to the Junior PO stage by winning just one game. Consequently, LG will head to Gwangju after playing only one game. On the other hand, fifth-place Doosan ended their autumn baseball campaign for this year in a single game.

Manager Yeom Kyung-yeop of LG faced the press after the game with his voice completely hoarse. He smiled and said, “I was anxious, so I shouted ‘fighting’ too much from the dugout, which severely strained my throat.”

On this day, LG’s starting pitcher Carlos Karasco delivered a scoreless performance through six innings. Karasco then caused a no-out, runners-on-second-and-third crisis in the top of the seventh inning before being removed. Kennedy, who took the mound as the second pitcher, struck out Kim Min-seok to put out the immediate fire. Although he allowed a sacrifice fly RBI to Yang Seok-hwan during the subsequent bases-loaded threat, that was all. In a one-out, runners-on-first-and-second crisis in the top of the eighth inning, Lee Woo-chan retired Doosan’s Severino and Ryu Seung-min with consecutive strikeouts, ending the inning without allowing runs.

Manager Yeom summarized, “I thought the starting pitching battle would be very important, but Karasco held his own against Gwak Bin in that battle, allowing us to take control of the overall game flow. Austin hit a lead-off two-run home run, which allowed our players to play with more composure. There was also a crisis in the seventh inning, but (Park) Hae-min made a super catch, limiting the damage to one run. This allowed us to maintain the momentum on our side. We were constantly under pressure as we couldn’t score additional runs, but I think we were able to win because Kennedy and (Lee) Woo-chan handled the crisis situations well.”

Ultimately, LG’s bullpen delivered a crucial performance on this day. In fact, LG’s pitching staff had suffered its worst talent drain ahead of this autumn baseball season. Veteran Kim Jin-sung was sidelined with a shoulder injury, and Go Woo-seok was unable to play due to registration deadline issues. Additionally, left-handed starting pitcher candidate Son Ju-young was excluded from the roster due to neck stiffness symptoms. In this situation, Kennedy completed his mission with one inning pitched, one hit batter, one strikeout, and no runs allowed. Following him, Kim Jin-su pitched one-third of an inning, and Lee Woo-chan pitched two-thirds of an inning. Kim Kang-ryul took the mound in the ninth inning and successfully protected a three-run lead.

Manager Yeom applauded, saying, “The most core roles in today’s bullpen were played by Kennedy and Lee Woo-chan. Kennedy limited the damage to one run during the seventh-inning crisis, and (Lee) Woo-chan recorded outs in critical situations and finished the inning well, creating opportunities for us to score additional runs.”

However, an unexpected injury occurred. Shin Min-jae suffered a hamstring injury while stepping on first base after successfully executing a squeeze bunt toward third base during a one-out, runners-on-first-and-third opportunity in the top of the eighth inning. Unable to run any further, Shin Min-jae was replaced by pinch runner Lee Young-bin. An LG team official stated, “He was substituted for player protection due to left hamstring stiffness symptoms. There are no plans for an examination on the 14th.”

However, he is expected to receive a hospital examination on the 15th. Manager Yeom said, “A detailed examination is needed, but as of now, (his appearance in the Junior Playoffs) does not look easy.” He added, “If Shin Min-jae’s appearance is difficult, we plan to first check Oh Ji-hwan’s physical condition. I think he will be fine after resting for about two days, but if that doesn’t work out, Lee Young-bin seems likely to enter as a replacement player.” Regarding Son Ju-young, he left the possibility open by stating, “We are considering including him in the roster and monitoring his condition, subject to consultation with the training staff.”

LG, which ended the Wild Card deciding game early, will play Game 1 of the Junior Playoffs against third-place KIA Tigers at Gwangju-KIA Champions Field at 2 p.m. on the 17th. They have announced Anders Tolhurst as the starting pitcher for Game 1. James Neal is a strong candidate for KIA. This season, LG was outmatched by KIA in their regular season head-to-head record with seven wins and nine losses. In recent matchups, they are struggling with a seven-game losing streak.

Manager Yeom vowed to perform well, stating, “We fought fiercely with KIA over the standings until the end of the season, but we were consistently beaten by Kim Do-young at critical moments. It seems important how we handle Kim Do-young in this Junior Playoffs series.”

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original