Heroes beat KBO-leading Twins behind starter’s gem

Starter Kenny Rosenberg took a perfect game into the sixth inning and received three solo home runs in support, as the Kiwoom Heroes blanked first-place LG Twins 4-0 in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) on Wednesday.

In his fourth start of his first KBO season, Rosenberg tossed eight dominant innings and struck out a season-high 13 batters at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. Every batter in the Twins’ starting lineup struck out against Rosenberg.

The Heroes improved to 6-9-0 (wins-losses-ties) by snapping their three-game losing skid, while the Twins fell to 11-2-0 as their four-game winning streak ended.

Heroes captain Song Sung-mun opened the game with a solo home run off starter Elieser Hernandez for his first career leadoff dinger.

Then in the bottom third, No. 3 hitter Lee Ju-hyoung doubled the Heroes’ lead with a solo shot of his own, a frozen rope that cleared the right-field wall in a hurry.

Meanwhile, Rosenberg kept mowing down hitters, retiring the first 16 batters he faced while striking out six of them.

The Heroes gave their starter a bit more breathing room in the bottom fourth, as Park Ju-hong led things off with a solo home run for a 3-0 lead.

Rosenberg responded by throwing a clean fifth inning, which included two more strikeouts.

The left-hander struck out the first two batters of the sixth inning to reach his season-high 10 strikeouts, before No. 9 hitter Choi Won-young ended his no-hit bid with a bloop double to shallow right field.

Rosenberg quickly regrouped and struck out Hong Chang-ki to end the inning.

The Heroes tacked on a run in the bottom sixth thanks to Park Ju-hong’s sacrifice fly, which knocked Hernandez out of the game with the Heroes up 4-0.

Working efficiently despite his high strikeout total, Rosenberg pitched around an error in the seventh and wiggled out of a two-out, two-on jam in the eighth.

He couldn’t quite close out a shutout, though, as he got pulled after giving up back-to-back singles to open the ninth inning. Reliever Ju Seung-woo then made sure Rosenberg would have an unblemished line by retiring the final three batters.

Rosenberg said the win was “an awesome way” to bounce back after the Heroes lost 13-1 the previous day.

“A very well-pitched game for me personally. Ju did a great job coming in and leaving the zero on the scoreboard for the team shutout,” he said.

Heroes manager Hong Won-ki praised Rosenberg for a pitching performance befitting his status as No. 1 starter.

“Against a powerful lineup, he was aggressive and smart as well,” Hong said. “He and catcher Kim Jae-hyun had incredible chemistry. We grabbed the early momentum with Song Sung-mun’s leadoff home run, and the two homers that followed sealed the deal in our favor.”

Song, who turned on a 3-1 fastball left out over the plate, said he was trying to give his team a quick start in the midst of a losing streak.

“I am happy to have made things comfortable for Rosenberg early on,” Song said. “It’s easy to get down on ourselves during a losing streak, and I told the guys that we should try to keep things light on the field. Everyone is doing a great job, and I have to hold up my end of the bargain now.”