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LG Twins starter Im Chan-kyu pitches against the Samsung Lions during Game 3 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Thursday. (Yonhap) |
The LG Twins defeated the Samsung Lions 1-0 on Thursday to stave off elimination in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason.
Twins starter Im Chan-kyu threw 5 1/3 shutout innings at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, and Elieser Hernandez added 3 2/3 scoreless frames to combine for the narrow win before a sellout crowd of 23,750.
The Twins scored the only run of the game via a sacrifice fly by Hong Chang-ki in the bottom fifth.
The Lions still lead this best-of-five series 2-1 and will take another crack at finishing off the Twins in Game 4 on Friday, back at Jamsil.
The winner of this series will go on to face the top-seeded Kia Tigers in the Korean Series.
The Twins are trying to become the first team since the 2015-16 Doosan Bears to repeat as Korean Series champions.
Only three times has a team erased a 2-0 deficit in the best-of-five second round, and the most recent case happened last year when the KT Wiz rallied past the NC Dinos.
The teams traded zeroes for the first three innings, though it wasn't for any lack of chances, especially on the Twins' part.
Lions starter Hwang Dong-jae kept wiggling out of jams. In the bottom first, he pitched around a leadoff single by striking out the final two batters. In the next inning, Oh Ji-hwan drew a leadoff walk against Hwang, stole second and moved to third on a flyout. But Hwang fielded a comebacker by Park Dong-won, and got Oh in a rundown between third and home. Park reached second on the play, but Hwang struck out Park Hae-min to end that rally.
In the third, Hwang erased a one-out walk by getting Shin Min-jae to bounce into a 6-4-3 double play.
Twins starter Im Chan-kyu had a much easier time working through the opposing lineup, allowing just one hit through the first three frames.
Im got into his first jam in the fourth, when he gave up a pair of singles to put runners at the corners. But the right-hander struck out Kang Min-ho swinging on a 2-2 curveball to get himself out of trouble.
Hwang got the hook after walking Austin Dean to start the bottom fourth. Then reliever Lee Seung-hyun got Dean out in a rundown after a nifty pickoff throw.
Lee gave up a single to Kim Hyun-soo but then struck out the next two batters to keep the game scoreless.
The Twins finally broke the deadlock in the bottom fifth. After a walk, a sacrifice bunt and a single put runners at the corners, Hong Chang-ki drove in the game's first run with a sacrifice fly to left.
The Lions nearly tied the score in the top of the sixth against reliever Elieser Hernandez. With one out in the inning, Yoon Jeong-bin sent a towering fly ball to right field. He tossed his bat with an extra zip, apparently thinking he had just hit one out, but right fielder Hong Chang-ki caught the ball at the wall.
The Lions missed another opportunity in the seventh. Kim Young-woong hit a triple with two outs in the inning, as his sinking line drive skipped past diving Hong and rolled to the warning track. But the next batter, Lee Jae-hyeon, popped out to shallow center to end that threat.
The Lions frittered away another chance in the eighth, with Diaz grounding into a fielder's choice when they had runners at first and second.
Hernandez punctuated his shutdown relief outing by striking out the side in the top ninth.
After pounding out eight home runs and 28 hits total over the first two games, the Lions managed only five hits in this loss.
For Game 4, the Lions will turn to their Game 1 winner, Denyi Reyes. The right-hander held the Twins to one earned run on four hits in 6 2/3 innings Sunday and will be going on four days' rest.
The Twins will counter with left-hander Dietrich Enns, who hasn't pitched since starting on Oct. 9 against the Wiz in the previous series.
He had a 3.00 ERA with a 0-1 record in two regular-season starts against the Lions.
