The KT Wiz scored early and held on for expensive life to defeat the LG Twins 3-2 on Saturday to start their South Korean baseball postseason sequence.
Moon Sang-chul smoked a two-run dwelling run within the prime of the second inning at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, and No. 9 hitter Sim Woo-jun delivered an RBI double within the fifth for the slender Recreation 1 victory within the first spherical.
Earlier than a sellout crowd of 23,750 followers, Wiz starter Ko Younger-pyo tossed 4 innings of one-run ball simply two days after making a aid look within the wild card spherical.
Recreation 2 of this best-of-five sequence is again at Jamsil at 2 p.m. Sunday.
In 15 earlier first rounds performed within the best-of-five format, the workforce that received the primary sport superior to the subsequent spherical 11 instances.
This can be a rematch of the 2023 Korean Sequence, the place the Twins beat the Wiz in 5 video games to seize their first championship since 1994.
By advantage of ending third within the common season, the Twins had a direct ticket to the primary spherical. The Wiz, however, needed to beat the SSG Landers in a fifth-place tiebreaker sport on Tuesday simply to sneak into the postseason. Then within the wild card spherical, the Wiz beat the No. 4 seed Doosan Bears in two straight video games to achieve this stage. They’re the primary No. 5 seed to make it out of the wild card section since its introduction in 2015.
The Wiz drew the primary blood within the prime of the second because of Moon’s two-run blast.
After cleanup Kang Baek-ho had led off the inning with a single, Moon, making his first begin of this postseason, drilled an inside fastball from starter Dietrich Enns and despatched it into left-field seats.
It was Moon’s third profession postseason dinger.
The Twins minimize the deficit in half within the backside fourth, after getting nothing in opposition to starter Ko Younger-pyo for the primary three frames.
With one out within the fourth, Shin Min-jae slapped a single to proper and stole second. Austin Dean introduced him dwelling with a single to left.
The Wiz restored their two-run lead within the prime fifth, because of Sim’s one-out RBI double.
However Sim was doubled off at second base after Kim Min-hyuck lined out to shortstop.
The Wiz frittered away one other alternative to drag away within the prime sixth. With one out and runners on the corners, Moon, the house run hitter from the second inning, bounced right into a 5-4-3 double play in opposition to new pitcher Kim Jin-sung.
The Twins bought to inside a run once more within the backside sixth on some miscommunication by the Wiz protection.
With runners on the corners, Shin Min-jae tried to steal second base. However nobody coated the bag for the Wiz as catcher Jang Sung-woo’s throw sailed into heart area, permitting Hong Chang-ki to attain simply from third to make it a 3-2 sport.
However the Twins could not get any nearer as Moon Bo-gyeong struck out to finish the inning.
The Wiz could not money in on Kim Min-hyuck’s one-out triple within the prime eighth, as Elieser Hernandez, a starter making a aid look in his Korea Baseball Group postseason, struck out the subsequent two batters.
However the Wiz’s bullpen made the one-run lead stand, with Son Dong-hyun, So Hyeong-jun and Park Yeong-hyun every working a scoreless inning to shut out the win.
Son retired the aspect within the backside seventh on simply three pitches, turning into the primary pitcher in KBO postseason historical past to get three outs on three pitches.
Wiz supervisor Lee Kang-chul stated his hitting coaches had advised him Moon might do some injury on this sport however he did not count on to see a house run straight away.
“His dwelling run put the early momentum on our aspect,” Lee stated. “Then after we gave up a run, we scored within the very subsequent half inning. That had a huge effect on our win.”
Twins skipper Youm Kyoung-youb rued wasted alternatives.
“We are going to think about shuffling the lineup,” he stated. “A few of our key guys did not have their timing down.”
Relationship to the tip of the common season, the Wiz have now received seven straight video games.
For Recreation 2, the Wiz will begin right-hander Um Sang-back. He had a 1-1 document with an 8.44 ERA in two regular-season begins in opposition to the Twins. He allowed 16 hits, together with three homers, in 10 2/3 innings. Kim Hyun-soo and Hong Chang-ki every went 3-for-6 in opposition to Um.
The Twins will counter with Im Chan-kyu, who went 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA in opposition to the Wiz this previous common season. He did give up three homers in 20 innings, together with one by slugger Mel Rojas Jr.