The KIA Tigers defeated the LG Twins and saved the possibility of going straight to the semi-full playoffs (jun PO).
In the 2026 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League home game against LG held at Kia Champions Field in Gwangju, Jeollanam-do on the 26th, KIA won 5-1, taking advantage of James Nail's good pitching.
As a result, 4th place KIA, with 72 wins, 58 losses, 2 draws, and a winning percentage of 0.554, caught up with 3rd place LG (75 wins, 57 losses, 1 draw, and a winning percentage of 0.568) by 2 games.
KIA and LG still have four face-offs remaining.
KIA scored the first run in the bottom of the second inning with Na Seong-beom hitting a dominant solo arch.
In the third inning, Park Jeong-woo, who came out with a single with two outs, stole second base, and Han Jun-su came in with a timely hit to right-center to make it 2-0.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, with bases loaded and one out, LG relief pitcher Go Woo-seok added one run.
After two outs, Kim Ho-ryeong brought in two runners with a double hit and ran away with the game to 5-0.
In the top of the 9th inning, with bases loaded and 1 out, Park Dong-won made up 1 point with a walk, but there was no follow-up hit.
KIA starting pitcher Nail became the winning pitcher by striking out 6 batters and allowing 5 hits and no runs through the 6th inning.
Lim Chan-gyu of LG, tied for first place in wins, went down after allowing 4 runs on 7 hits in 5⅓ innings.
In Suwon, where Ko Young-pyo and Ahn Woo-jin faced off as starters, the lowest-ranked Kiwoom Heroes defeated the top-ranked team KT Wiz 10-1 and broke their six-game losing streak.
Kiwoom took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Park Chan-hyuk hit a sacrifice fly with bases loaded and one out.
In the third inning, Kim Woong-bin hit a two-run home run to make it 3-0.
In the 7th inning, foreign batters Matt Davidson and Caston Hiura hit back-to-back home runs, scoring 4 runs and running away to 7-0.
Kiwoom also scored in the 8th inning with Kim Woong-bin's walk and Park Chan-hyuk's 2-RBI, timely hit.
KT was only able to make up for one run with Sam Hilliard's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 8th inning.
Hilliard, who posted his 123rd RBI, surpassed LG's Austin Dean and became the sole leader in RBIs.
Kiwoom starter Ahn Woo-jin became the winning pitcher by striking out seven and allowing two hits and no runs through the sixth inning.
Ko Young-pyo struck out 9 batters in 6 innings, but allowed 3 runs on 7 hits.
In Changwon, NC Dinos defeated Hanwha Eagles by 3-2.
NC, ranked 6th, with two consecutive wins, maintained a glimmer of hope, but Hanwha, ranked 9th, was struggling in the deep swamp of 11 consecutive losses.
In the bottom of the third inning, Shin Jae-in, who walked, succeeded in stealing second base, and then hit home with Park Min-woo's heavy hit to score first.
In the fourth inning, with bases loaded and one out, Oh Tae-yang drew a walk to make it 2-0.
In the bottom of the 8th inning, Kim Hyung-jun hit a left-field solo home run against Hanwha's Kim Seo-hyun to make it 3-0.
Hanwha took advantage of a mistake in the top of the 9th inning to make up for 2 runs, but was unable to turn it over in the end.
NC starting pitcher Natsuki Toda allowed 3 hits and 4 walks in 6⅔ innings, but allowed no runs with 2 strikeouts.
