KBO Betting Picks for Tuesday, April 27

Monday is the usual scheduled off day in the KBO, and we’ll have a slew of new series getting underway on Tuesday. The LG Twins and SSG Landers are sitting tied atop the table with 11-8 records thus far, while the Samsung Lions (11-9) aren’t too far behind.

The NC Dinos, KT Wiz, and Doosan Bears are all sitting at 10-9, while the Kiwoom Heroes (7-13) are sitting alone in last place. The Heroes lost two of three games in their weekend series against SSG, but they did bounce back with a win on Saturday.

Let’s dive into the odds offered at KBO betting websites and examine Tuesday’s five-game slate for some winners.

Hanwha Eagles vs Kia Tigers

Hanwha, who finished with the worst record in the KBO a season ago, is off to an 8-11 start after dropping two of their three games over the weekend against the Twins. Their lone win was a 19-5 shellacking on Friday, and on Tuesday they’ll hit the road to face the Kia Tigers. Kia is 9-10 after losing twice in three games at home to Samsung over the weekend.

The Eagles will have Min-woo Kim on the mound for another start in Tuesday’s series opener, while the Tigers will counter with Gi-Yeong Im. Kim is off to a solid 2-1 start with a 3.38 ERA through his first four starts of 2021, with both wins coming in his last three games overall.

Kim, a right-hander, has a career 5.86 ERA at the KBO level. However, he is fresh off of the best year of his young career in which he went 5-10 across 26 games with a 4.34 ERA. Kim has gradually improved after a rough start to his career, and he may wind up becoming one of the more reliable arms in the Hanwha rotation as the season progresses.

Im has only made two starts so far this season, and they haven’t gone particularly smoothly. The righty was blasted for eight runs on seven hits in just 3.2 innings in his first start against the Dinos, and he followed that up by yielding another four runs on five hits last time out against SSG. Im is in his fifth year with Kia after beginning his career back in 2012 with Hanwha.

Im owns a lifetime 5.25 ERA at the KBO level, and he hasn’t posted an ERA south of 5.00 since his first year with the Tigers back in 2017. The 28-year-old hasn’t pitched very well at all in a Tigers uniform, so this looks like a pretty good spot to bet on the Eagles to get a positive result on the road.

KT Wiz vs SSG Landers

The Wiz have started the season 10-9, and they were fortunate to avoid a three-game sweep over the weekend against the Lotte Giants with a 6-5 triumph on Saturday. SSG Landers, meanwhile, are tied with the Twins atop the table after taking two of three games on the road against the struggling Kiwoom Heroes this past weekend.

SSG will be at home to begin a three-game set against KT starting on Tuesday. Su-min Jung will get the ball for the Landers, while Odrisamer Despaigne takes another turn for the Wiz.

Despaigne was outstanding in his most recent start, as he was able to stifle the Dinos’ potent offense over the course of six shutout innings. Despaigne posted a passable 4.33 last year in his first season with the Wiz, and through four starts this year he has improved that mark to 2.55. Despaigne has struck out 21 while walking 10 and allowing just seven earned runs through his first 24.2 innings in 2021.

Jung, a 31-year-old righty, will be making his first start of the year after pitching twice out of the bullpen. Jung doesn’t have a lengthy track record as a starter, as he has never spent a full season in any team’s rotation. Jung has a bloated ERA of 22.50 through two games in relief, which includes a four-run outing against his former club, the NC Dinos, back on April 7.

Jung hasn’t thrown more than 32 pitches in either outing so far this season, so SSG will likely be leaning pretty heavily on the bullpen in this one. Despaigne has started the season in impressive fashion, so I like the Wiz to keep the train rolling on the road tonight. Take the Wiz to win this one outright against a beleaguered SSG pitching staff.

Lotte Giants vs LG Twins

The Lotte Giants took two of three in their weekend set against the KT Wiz to pull to 9-10 on the young season. The Giants will hit the road on Tuesday to start a series with LG, who won two of their three weekend games over the Hanwha Eagles.

Chan-heon Jeong will get the ball in Tuesday’s series opener for the Twins, while Kyung-eun Noh will go for the Giants.

Jeong is a 31-year-old right-hander that has been pitching with LG since his debut in 2008. Jeong has a 4.80 lifetime ERA in the KBO, but he’s off to a nice start this term. Jeong is 1-1 through three starts with a tidy 2.25 ERA. He pitched a pair of scoreless outings before having a more difficult time last time around against Kia. Jeong yielded four runs on five hits in a loss to the Tigers in his last start. He was excellent last year in his first season as a full-time starter, as he went 7-4 with a 3.51 ERA in 19 games.

Noh is another veteran, as he’s been around since 2003. The righty debuted with Doosan that year, and he joined the Giants back in 2016. Noh has kept his ERA below 5.00 in each of the last three years, but his career ERA is sitting at 5.11.

He made his first start of the year six days ago against his former team, the Bears. Noh allowed three runs on three solo homers, but picked up the win in six innings of action.

The Twins have been hitting the ball well lately, and LG seems to have the better starting pitcher taking the mound in Jeong. Noh has been decent over the last couple of years, but I would be surprised if the Twins’ bats didn’t find some success against him in this spot. Take the Twins to pick up another win at home tonight.

NC Dinos vs Samsung Lions

The NC Dinos haven’t been nearly as dominant to begin 2021 as they were to start 2020, but this team is still favored to win the Korean Series for the second straight season. The Dinos are a game over .500 after dropping two of three to Doosan over the weekend, but they did close the series in style with a 10-0 victory on Saturday.

NC will remain on the road tonight to face a Samsung team that took two of three against the Lions over the weekend. The Dinos will have Young-kyu Kim on the mound in the opener, while the Lions counter with David Buchanan.

This should be a fun matchup, because Buchanan has been one of the best pitchers in the league since debuting last year. Buchanan has a 3.22 ERA since signing with the Lions prior to last season with a record of 18-8. He’s 3-1 so far this season, and he hasn’t allowed more than one run in any of his last three starts. Buchanan’s victories have come over KT, Hanwha, and SSG after opening the season with a rare loss to Kiwoom.

Kim is a 21-year-old lefty in his third year in the league. He has a bloated 6.94 ERA through his first three starts this season, though he did pick up his only win last time out against the Wiz. Kim has alternated between the rotation and the bullpen through each of his first two years with the Dinos, and this is his first season as a full-time rotation arm.

While the Dinos are good enough offensively to do damage against Buchanan, the pitching matchup clearly favors the Lions in this one. Kim is hardly a proven commodity at this early stage of his career, while NC won’t have an easy time of it against one of the KBO’s elite right-handers.

Doosan Bears vs Kiwoom Heroes

The Bears fell to the Dinos in last year’s Korean Series, but Doosan was able to exact some revenge by taking two of three games against NC over the weekend. The Bears have gotten off to a middling 10-9 start overall, and they’ll travel to face the scuffling Kiwoom Heroes on Tuesday.

The Heroes did earn a win to salvage a game in their weekend series against SSG, but not much has gone right for Kiwoom early on. The Heroes are 1.5 games worse than any other team in the league already with a 7-13 record to start.

Doosan is in a tough spot tonight, with Eric Jokisch set to toe the rubber for Kiwoom. The Bears will have veteran Hee-kwan Yoo on the mound.

Jokisch is 27-17 with a 2.64 ERA since arriving in the KBO with Kiwoom before the 2019 campaign. The right-hander took a no-decision in his last start against Hanwha despite holding the Eagles scoreless on six hits in four innings of work. Jokisch has a 2-1 record with a 2.25 ERA through his first four games of the year, though he has allowed one or fewer earned runs in three of those games. Jokisch’s ERA is only as high as it is because of one rough outing against LG two starts ago.

Yoo is a 34-year-old also-ran with a career 4.48 ERA in the league. He gave Doosan several good years in the middle part of the last decade, but he seems to be on the downturn of his career. The right-hander has really struggled to start 2021, with an 0-1 record and a hefty 10.45 ERA through his first three outings.

Yoo hasn’t pitched more than 4.2 innings in any game, and he has allowed three or more earned runs in all of them. He also has more walks (5) than strikeouts (4), which is certainly suboptimal.

Kiwoom has been awful, but they have their ace on the mound tonight. They’ll also be taking their hacks against a struggling pitcher that seems to be aging before our eyes, so I like the Heroes to pick up a rare victory here. Bet on Kiwoom’s moneyline option for the best value tonight.