Heroes reach brink of Korean Series after rallying past Twins

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Oct. 27 (Yonhap) -- Powered by back-to-back home runs in the seventh inning, the Kiwoom Heroes defeated the LG Twins 6-4 on Thursday to move within a victory of reaching the South Korean baseball championship series.

Im Ji-yeol smoked a go-ahead, two-run homer off the bench in the fateful seventh inning at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, and Lee Jung-hoo followed with a towering solo home run, giving the Heroes a 2-1 lead in this best-of-five series.

The Heroes can punch a ticket to the Korean Series with a victory Friday, back at the dome. The SSG Landers, the regular season champions, are awaiting the winner of the Heroes-Twins series.

The Twins opened the scoring in the top of the second, when Moon Bo-gyeong faked a bunt and chopped a single through the gaping hole on the left to cash in Oh Ji-hwan, who had led off the inning with a double.

Kiwoom right-hander An Woo-jin relied on offspeed pitches instead of his signature fastball in the early going. And with two outs in the third inning, he hung a curveball to cleanup Chae Eun-seong, who crushed that pitch for a solo homer that gave the Twins a 2-0 lead.

LG starter Kim Yoon-sik, meanwhile, was cruising along in his first career postseason start.

After a leadoff single by Kim Jun-wan, Kim Yun-sik retired 10 straight batters. After that streak ended with one out in the fourth, the left-hander got five straight outs.

But the Heroes turned the tide in a hurry in the bottom sixth, scoring three runs with two outs to take a 3-2 lead.

Kim Yun-sik served up a leadoff single but then retired the next two batters. He was one out from escaping the inning unscathed, but the Twins instead summoned reliever Jin Hae-soo to handle two-time batting champion Lee Jung-hoo, who had singled off Kim in the previous at-bat.

Jin ended up hitting Lee in the right elbow guard to extend the inning and then allowed an RBI double to Kim Hye-seong.

Right-hander Jung Woo-young came on to put out the fire, but Yasiel Puig's swinging bunt down the third base line cashed in Lee to make it a 2-2 game.

Kim Tae-jin followed up with a single to left to put the Heroes up 3-2.

The Twins reclaimed their lead immediately in the top of the seventh. A single, a walk and a wild pitch had runners at second and third for Park Hae-min, whose groundout to second cashed in the tying run.

Another groundout, this time by pinch hitter Moon Sung-ju, brought in the go-ahead run for a 4-3 Twins lead.

That lead didn't last long, with the Heroes putting up another three-spot in the bottom seventh.

At two outs, Kim Jun-wan extended the inning with an infield single back to the mound, as reliever Kim Dae-yu was unable to field the ball cleanly.

When the right-handed Im Ji-yeol came on to pinch hit, the Twins brought in righty Yi Jung-yong. And Im jumped on the first-pitch fastball and drove it 130 meters to left-center field for a two-run homer and a 5-4 Heroes lead.

The blast sent the dugout and the Heroes' cheering section into a frenzy, but before anyone could settle down, Lee Jung-hoo clobbered another first-pitch fastball for a solo homer.

The Twins threatened with two straight singles in the top eighth, but reliever Kim Jae-woong made the most important defensive play of the game to keep his team in front.

Moon Bo-gyeong's sacrifice bunt attempt popped toward the mound, and Kim made a diving grab and then had the presence of mind to throw out the lead runner at second for the crucial double play. Pinch hitter Hong Chang-ki grounded out to second to end that LG threat.

Kim then pitched around a one-out error to close out the win.

Neither starter factored into a decision.

An Woo-jin labored through five innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and striking out five. He threw 93 pitches, with 37 sliders and just 29 fastballs.

Kim Yun-sik was charged with a run in 5 2/3 innings in his first career postseason start.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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