Gwangju:The Kia Tigers took a commanding lead in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason series by defeating the LG Twins 6-3 on Sunday. The Tigers' offense made an impressive start with five runs in the first inning, supported by six solid innings from starter Adam Oller. The game, played at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field amidst intermittent showers, marked the Tigers' second consecutive win, bringing them within one win of clinching the best-of-five series.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the series will now move to the Twins' home ground at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul for Game 3, scheduled for 630 p.m. on Tuesday. This game could be the last at Jamsil, a stadium with a history of 44 years, as it is set for demolition after this season. Historically, only two teams, the 2010 and 2013 Doosan Bears, have managed to overturn a 0-2 deficit since this round was introduced to the postseason in 1989.
In the first inning, the Tigers launched an aggressive offense against Twins' starter Im Chan-kyu, scoring five runs on six hits, including three consecutive doubles. This onslaught was witnessed by a sellout crowd of 18,900. Im was pulled from the game after retiring just one batter, pitching under the shadow of a personal loss, having lost his mother-in-law the previous day. Reliever Jon Kennedy stepped in, but the damage was already done, with the Tigers' performance tying the first-round record for hits in an inning and equaling a postseason record for the most runs in any bottom of the first inning.
The Twins attempted a comeback in the third inning when Park Dong-won doubled and scored on a single by Gu Bon-hyeok. Another opportunity arose in the fifth inning with Park Hae-min's RBI single cutting the deficit to 5-2, but the rally was halted when Song Chan-eui popped out. The Tigers extended their lead in the seventh inning with a sacrifice fly from Na Sung-bum, bringing the score to 6-2.
In the eighth inning, the Twins narrowed the gap to 6-3 and brought Lee Jae-won to the plate as the potential tying run. However, the Tigers' closer Jeon Sang-hyun struck out Lee, ending the Twins' final rally. Despite outhitting the Tigers 9-8, the Twins' key hitters struggled, going a combined 2-for-15 with four strikeouts.