Twins beat Wiz to even KBO postseason series

The LG Twins erased an early deficit to defeat the KT Wiz 7-2 on Sunday to even up their Korea Baseball Organization postseason series at one game apiece.

Light-hitting infielder Shin Min-jae drove in three runs for the Twins, while the bottom third of their lineup contributed four hits, five runs, two RBIs and two steals on this rainy afternoon at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. Twins starter Im Chan-kyu went 5 1/3 solid innings for his second career postseason victory in front of a sellout crowd of 23,750.

This was Im's longest postseason outing of his career.

No. 7 hitter Park Dong-won broke a 2-2 tie with a double in the fourth, before No. 9 hitter Moon Sung-ju made it a two-run game with a single.

Shin's bases-loaded single, combined with an error by left fielder Kim Min-hyuck, plated three runs in the bottom sixth.

Game 3 of this best-of-five series will move to the Wiz's home, KT Wiz Park in Suwon, just south of Seoul, on Tuesday.

For the second straight game, the Wiz scored the game's first run in the top of the second inning.

With two outs, Bae Jung-dae singled off Im and stole second base. When catcher Park Dong-won's throw skipped into the center field, Bae took third base.

Then on the very next pitch, Hwang Jae-gyun snapped a 0-for-9 funk in the postseason with a single.

The Wiz doubled their lead in the top of the third, thanks to Kang Baek-ho's sacrifice fly.

The Twins came right back to tie the game in the bottom half of that inning.

Park Hae-min and Moon Sung-ju, No. 8 and 9 hitters, hit singles off starter Um Sang-back to open the inning and then executed a double steal to reach second and third.

Hong Chang-ki then cashed in a run with a groundout. Then the next batter, Shin Min-jae, plated the tying run with a single to left.

The Twins then grabbed their first lead of the series in the bottom fourth. After Oh Ji-hwan reached with an infield single and reached second on an error, Park Dong-won delivered an RBI double to left-center field to put the Twins up 3-2.

Two batters later, Moon Sung-ju scored Park with a single and extended the Twins' lead to 4-2.

The Twins then blew the game wide open with three runs in the bottom sixth, thanks to a clutch hit and a couple of errors by the Wiz.

After Park Dong-won drew a walk, Park Hae-min put down a bunt to move the runner over. But pitcher Son Dong-hyun bobbled the ball to leave both runners safe.

A sacrifice bunt advanced the runners, and with the first base open, the Wiz elected to intentionally walk Hong Chang-ki to load the bases and put a double play in order.

That strategy backfired, as Shin Min-jae cleared the bases.

Shin lined a single to left but left fielder Kim Min-hyuck let the ball skip past him, as all three runners came around to score to make it a 7-2 game.

Shin finished the day 2-for-4 with three RBIs, a walk and a steal. Park Dong-won, Park Hae-min and Moon Sung-ju, the Twins No. 7, 8 and 9 hitters, combined to go 4-for-8 and scored five of the team's seven runs.

Im scattered seven hits across 5 1/3 innings and gave up two runs, one unearned. He had not gone longer than 3 2/3 innings in any of his six previous postseason appearances.

Three relievers after Im held the Wiz to two singles in the final 3 2/3 innings.

The Wiz committed four errors in this loss, after making only two errors in their three previous postseason games combined.

The Wiz loaded the bases with two outs in the top ninth but Kang Baek-ho lined out to left field.

Twins manager Youm Kyoung-youb congratulated Im on earning his first postseason win as a starter.

"I hope his outing today will give him confidence and set the rest of the team on the right track," Youm said. "Then when we needed some insurance runs, Min-jae came through with the big hit. He was the offensive leader for today."

Lee Kang-chul, the losing manager, said errors took the wind out of the Wiz's sails.

"We've been playing some tough games so far and I think the guys lost their focus a bit today," he said. "But we're going to take a breather tomorrow and regroup for the next game."

For Game 3, the Twins will start right-hander Choi Won-tae, who went 2-0 with a 3.50 ERA in three regular-season starts versus the Wiz.

Wiz leadoff man Kim Min-hyuck batted 4-for-8 against Choi this year.

The Wiz will counter with left-hander Wes Benjamin in the third game. He has been a thorn in the Twins' side the past two regular seasons, with a 1.93 ERA in four starts this year and a 0.84 ERA with a 4-0 record last year.

Austin Dean, one of only two right-handed bats in the regular Twins lineup, had the most success against Benjamin this year, going 4-for-11 with a triple and two RBIs.