For the second time in three years, the LG Twins are the champions of South Korean baseball.
The Twins knocked off the Hanwha Eagles 4-1 on Friday to win the Korean Sequence in 5 video games at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark within the central metropolis of Daejeon.
That is the Twins’ fourth Korea Baseball Group championship, following wins in 1990, 1994 and 2023.
The Twins gained the primary two video games of this best-of-seven collection at residence, Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, on Sunday and Monday. They dropped the third recreation in Daejeon in heartbreaking trend on Wednesday, giving up six runs within the backside eighth for a 7-3 loss. However lower than 24 hours later, the Twins returned the favor by scoring six instances within the high ninth to win Sport 4 by 7-4, setting the stage for Friday’s clincher.
Starter Anders Tolhurst threw seven innings of one-run ball, and Kim Hyun-soo, the Korean Sequence MVP, had three hits and knocked in two runs to shut out the collection.
The Twins had the very best file within the common season at 85-56-3 (wins-losses-ties) and earned a bye to the Korean Sequence. Groups with the very best regular-season file have gained the Korean Sequence about 85 % of the time up to now.
The Eagles, who completed second within the common season, have been making an attempt to win their first league title since 1999. This was their first postseason look since 2018 and their first journey to the Korean Sequence since 2006.
The Twins opened the scoring simply eight pitches into the sport in opposition to starter Moon Dong-ju. Shin Min-jae hit a one-out double to left subject, after which Kim Hyun-soo introduced him residence with a single down the left subject line for a 1-0 lead.
Then in a shock transfer, Moon was taken out of the sport after that first inning, throughout which the right-hander didn’t flash his regular fastball velocity. Moon was seen swinging his proper arm repeatedly throughout warmup, apparently as a consequence of some shoulder discomfort, however the Eagles mentioned Moon had not suffered any harm.
The sport abruptly was a bullpen day for the Eagles, with rookie right-hander Jeong Woo-joo being the primary one out after Moon.
After Jeong pitched a scoreless high second, the Eagles received the tying run off Tolhurst within the backside half of that inning because of Lee Received-suk’s RBI groundout with the bases loaded.
The Twins additionally loaded the bases within the high third, with a single and two straight walks in opposition to Jeong. However the Twins, too, additionally managed only one run from that chance, with Oh Ji-hwan’s sacrifice fly giving them a 2-1 lead.
The Twins saved creating site visitors on the bottom paths however could not add to their lead. They stranded two males within the fourth and failed to attain after loading the bases with one out within the fifth.
The Twins lastly tacked on a run within the sixth, as Kim Hyun-soo singled off Cho Dong-uk — the Eagles’ fifth pitcher of the sport — to money in Hong Chang-ki from second for a 3-1 lead.
Tolhurst labored by way of some prolonged early innings however managed to carry the Eagles to a run by way of 5 innings. After strolling Luis Liberato with one out within the third, Tolhurst received Moon Hyun-bin to hit right into a double play and proceeded to retire the subsequent 10 batters in a row.
Chae Eun-seong’s single to guide off the seventh ended that streak, however Tolhurst received Ha Ju-suk to floor right into a double play earlier than placing out Choi Jae-hoon with a fastball.
The Eagles tried to mount a rally within the backside eighth with pinch hitter Hwang Younger-mook singling off reliever Kim Jin-sung. However one other pinch hitter, Choi In-ho, popped out to shortstop, and Son Ah-seop grounded right into a 4-6-3 double play.
The Twins then grabbed a 4-1 lead within the high ninth with Hong Chang-ki’s sacrifice fly, and the cushion was sufficiently big for nearer You Younger-chan, who pitched round a two-out single to file the title-winning save. (Yonhap)
