Twins hold on to lead as rain stops games across Korea

Heavy rainfall caused further cancelations in the KBO last week, forcing a total of 11 games to be postponed with only 4 of 10 series played to completion. Despite the disruption, the LG Twins hold a comfortable 5.5 game lead with 30 games to play

An announcement on the jumbotron at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in southern Seoul says that the scheduled game between the LG Twins and Doosan Bears on Aug. 29 is canceled due to heavy rainfall. [NEWS1]

Unseasonably heavy rainfall caused further cancelations in the KBO last week, forcing a total of 11 games to be postponed with only four of 10 series actually played to completion. Despite the disruption, the LG Twins hold on to a comfortable 5.5 game lead with 30 games still to play.

The sixth-place Doosan Bears and seventh-place Lotte Giants suffered the most from the rain cancelations, managing just two games each across the week: The Bears lost 3-2 to the Twins on Thursday as the Giants beat the last-place Hanwha Eagles 5-2, before the Bears went on to beat the Giants 2-0 on Sunday.

As of press time, the Bears and Giants were set to play a rescheduled game on Monday evening to take their weekend series to two games.

Elsewhere in the KBO there was a little more action.

The third-place SSG Landers and ninth-place Kiwoom Heroes were the only teams that managed to play two midweek games, splitting their series with a game apiece: 11-7 to the Landers on Wednesday and 8-3 to the Heroes on Thursday.

Moving into the weekend, both teams managed a full series, albeit with very different results. The Heroes swept the second-place KT Wiz — 6-2, 3-0, 7-0 — while the Landers were swept by the fourth-place Kia Tigers — 10-2, 12-4, 8-6.

It was a bad weekend to be in the top three, with the Twins also losing their series to the Eagles, winning the opener 10-0 on Friday, but then dropping both Saturday’s and Sunday’s games 5-3.

The remaining midweek games saw the Wiz beat the eighth-place Samsung Lions 6-4 and the Tigers beat the fifth-place NC Dinos 13-3, both on Thursday.

The Dinos and Lions then faced off over the weekend, with the Dinos winning the series two games to one: 10-0, 5-1, 1-6.

The KBO returns this week for the final two originally scheduled series of the season, before the league shifts to make up series for the final month of action.

The Twins will start their week on the road in Suwon, Gyeonggi as they take on the KT Wiz in a first-second faceoff, while the Landers head to Daejeon to face the Eagles. The Tigers will visit the Bears at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in southern Seoul, while the Dinos host the Heroes in Changwon, South Gyeongsang. The Lions and Giants complete the midweek lineup, playing their series at the Giants’ second stadium in Ulsan.

Moving into the weekend, the Twins head to Gwangju to face the Tigers, the Wiz and Landers face off in Suwon, the Giants face the Dinos in the Nakdong River Derby in Changwon, the Bears host the Lions in Jamsil and the Eagles visit the Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul.

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