SEOUL, South Korea (Interstat) — The first-place Shinsegae Landers visit the Doosan Bears on Friday evening at Jamsil Stadium in a matchup between teams heading in opposite directions.

Shinsegae (18-14-1) enters the 59-degree, cloudy night having lost five of its last six games, including a 10-5 defeat Thursday to the NC Dinos. Doosan (15-18) has won two of its last three, most recently a 3-2 victory Thursday at LG Twins.

The teams split a three-game series in mid-April at Shinsegae, with the Landers winning the last two meetings 2-1 and 6-0 after Doosan took the opener 11-3. That April 14 victory marked the last time these clubs met.

Doosan right-hander Choi Min-seok has been a key figure in the season series, earning the win in that April 14 start with a dominant outing: 6.0 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 4 strikeouts. Choi has been sharp over his last five starts, allowing two earned runs or fewer in four of them. On Thursday, he tossed 5.0 innings of one-run ball with 8 strikeouts against LG. He has 21 strikeouts over his last two outings.

Shinsegae will counter with right-hander Kim Do-hyun, who made a brief scoreless relief appearance Thursday against NC, throwing 1.2 hitless innings with one strikeout. Kim has not started a game this season and his role for Friday was not immediately confirmed.

The Landers have struggled offensively during their recent skid, scoring three runs or fewer in four of their last five losses. Doosan, meanwhile, has shown offensive volatility, scoring 14 or more runs in two of its last five games but managing just one run in two games against LG earlier this week.

Interstat’s game simulator projects a 4-3 Shinsegae victory, and the ELO-based system gives the Landers a 52.3 percent probability of winning.

Friday begins a three-game weekend series at Jamsil, with games Saturday and Sunday before both clubs hit the road Tuesday.