LG clinch 50th win on Austin Dean's 27th homer, sweep Kiwoom

The LG Twins won a slugfest against the Kiwoom Heroes on Wednesday to extend their winning streak to two games.

LG defeated Kiwoom 7-5 at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul in the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League regular season, becoming the first team this year to reach 50 wins and improving to 50-30. Historically, teams that are first to 50 wins in the KBO League have gone on to claim the regular-season title 69.4 percent of the time and the Korean Series championship 56.3 percent of the time.

The game was a breathless back-and-forth affair. LG jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first on an RBI single by Moon Bo-gyeong and a two-run double by Song Chan-eui, only for Kiwoom to tie it in the bottom half on an RBI double by Park Chan-hyeok and a two-run double by Im Byeong-uk.

The lead-swapping continued deep into the game. LG went ahead again in the top of the fourth on a Shin Min-jae double, but Kiwoom answered in the bottom of the fourth when Yeo Dong-uk hit his third home run of the season. LG retook the lead in the top of the fifth on Austin Dean's 27th solo home run of the season, only for Kiwoom to level the score again in the bottom half on a Park Chan-hyeok infield grounder.

Dean, who homered in back-to-back games, held on to the league home run lead. After three ties, LG finally broke through in the top of the sixth: leadoff batter Park Dong-won hit a double to center, and Lee Yeong-bin followed with a two-run double to right-center to put LG ahead 6-5.

LG added an insurance run in the top of the ninth on a Park Hae-min double to seal the win. Kiwoom undid themselves in the bottom of the ninth — with runners on first and second and nobody out, they called for a bunt from Ahn Chi-hong, who had two hits on the day, only to see the lead runner thrown out at third. Closer Son Ju-yeong worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 19th save of the season.