Lotte Giants ride eight-game winning streak to top of KBO table

The Lotte Giants rode an eight-game winning streak to the top of the KBO last week, edging out the SSG Landers after an incredible run that saw them climb from seventh to fourth to first in the space of two weeks.

The Lotte Giants celebrate after beating the Kiwoom Heroes 5-3 at Sajik Baseball Stadium in Busan on Sunday. [LOTTE GIANTS]

The Lotte Giants rode an eight-game winning streak to the top of the KBO last week, edging out the SSG Landers after an incredible run that saw them climb from seventh to fourth to first in the space of two weeks.

The Giants brushed past the Hanwha Eagles in their midweek series, winning 8-1 on Wednesday and 3-0 on Thursday after a Tuesday cancelation, before beating the Kiwoom Heroes 5-2 on Friday and 5-3 on Sunday with another cancelation Saturday.

Those four wins tagged on to a sweep the previous weekend saw the Giants jump into first place when a 2-0 loss to the Doosan Bears knocked the Landers down a spot on Sunday.

The reigning champion Landers had an up-and-down week, losing their midweek series to the third-place LG Twins — 5-4, 3-5, 6-3 — before taking the first two games against the Bears: 4-1, 10-4.

The Twins held on to third place despite a tough weekend, losing all three games to be swept by the fifth-place Kia Tigers: 4-3, 6-3, 12-8. The Tigers also saw success earlier in the week, wining their series against the fourth-place NC Dinos with two games to one: 0-6, 6-0, 5-0.

The Dinos rallied over the weekend to sweep the Eagles and hold on to fourth — 6-4, 3-2, 4-1 — leaving the Dajeon club on a five-game losing streak to end the week.

The Bears tied with the Tigers in fifth place despite a fairly disastrous week, losing their midweek series to the seventh-place Samsung Lions — the same team for whom new Bears manager Lee Seung-yuop is considered one of the greatest franchise stars of all time — with a 1-0 loss on Wednesday, a 7-6 loss on Thursday and a cancelation Tuesday.

The Lions carried that momentum into the weekend, when they became the second team last week to sweep the struggling KT Wiz — 10-9, 3-2, 1-0 — following a very similar performance from the Heroes — 1-0, 13-2, 3-1.

With the losses, the Wiz are now stuck in a nine-game losing streak and have plummeted to ninth on the table, staying just a couple of games ahead of the last-place Eagles for now.

Things are unlikely to turn around for the Wiz in the next few days, as they travel to Incheon to take on the Landers on Tuesday. The Giants, meanwhile, face the Tigers in Gwangju while the Twins head to Changwon, South Gyeongsang, to face the Dinos. The Bears host the Eagles at Jamsil, southern Seoul, and the Heroes head to Daegu to take on the Lions.

Moving into the weekend, the highlight of the Children’s Day weekend is always the Jamsil Derby between the Bears and Twins, a subway series so acute that neither team actually has to ride the subway.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]