(LEAD) Twins beat Wiz to advance in KBO postseason

The LG Twins are moving on in the South Korean baseball postseason. The Twins defeated the KT Wiz 4-1 on Friday to capture the best-of-five first round in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason in five games. Twins starter Im Chan-kyu held the Wiz to one run on three hits in six effective innings, and slugger Austin Dean drove in two runs with a double and a sacrifice fly before a sellout crowd of 23,750 fans at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. LG Twins starter Im Chan-kyu celebrates after retiring Oh Yoon-suk of the KT Wiz to end the top of the fifth inning during Game 5 of the first round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Oct. 11, 2024. (Yonhap) LG Twins starter Im Chan-kyu celebrates after retiring Oh Yoon-suk of the KT Wiz to end the top of the fifth inning during Game 5 of the first round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Oct. 11, 2024. (Yonhap) The Twins, the 2023 Korean Series champs, w ill go on to face the No. 2 seed Samsung Lions in the best-of-five second round, which begins at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Lions' home, Samsung Lions Park, in the southeastern city of Daegu. It will be the teams' first meeting in the postseason since the 2002 Korean Series. The winner of the second round will reach the Korean Series, where the regular-season champions Kia Tigers are waiting. The Twins, No. 3 seed, are trying to become the first team since the 2015-16 Doosan Bears to win consecutive Korean Series titles. The Wiz squeezed into the postseason after beating the SSG Landers in a fifth-place tiebreaker game on Oct. 1. Then the Wiz defeated fourth-seed Doosan Bears in consecutive games to become the first No. 5 seed to emerge out of the wild card round. The Wiz won the opening game of the series against the Twins and forced Game 5 by taking the fourth game of the series 6-5 in 11 innings. But their magic ran out Friday as their bats were silenced by Im and the Twins bullpen. Austin Dean of the LG Twi ns hits an RBI double against the KT Wiz during Game 5 of the first round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Oct. 11, 2024. (Yonhap) Austin Dean of the LG Twins hits an RBI double against the KT Wiz during Game 5 of the first round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Oct. 11, 2024. (Yonhap) Im, who had also won Game 2 on Sunday, was voted the series MVP, earning 34 out of 67 votes cast by media. He held the Wiz to two runs in 11 1/3 innings, while striking out eight for a 1.59 ERA. The Twins opened the scoring for the third straight game. After Shin Min-jae hit a one-out single off starter Um Sang-back in the bottom first, Austin Dean drove him home with a double to right-center gap. Two batters later, Kim Hyun-soo lined a double off the top of the right field wall to put the Twins up 2-0. The Wiz reached into the bullpen after Hong Chang-ki led off the bottom third with a single off Um. Facing reliever So n Dong-hyun, Shin chopped a grounder right at third baseman Hwang Jae-gyun, who threw out Hong at second. LG Twins reliever Son Ju-young celebrates after striking out Oh Yoon-suk of the KT Wiz to end the top of the seventh inning during Game 5 of the first round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Oct. 11, 2024. (Yonhap) LG Twins reliever Son Ju-young celebrates after striking out Oh Yoon-suk of the KT Wiz to end the top of the seventh inning during Game 5 of the first round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Oct. 11, 2024. (Yonhap) With Dean at the plate, Shin stole second and advanced to third when catcher Jang Sung-woo's throw sailed into the center field. It was Shin's fifth steal of this series, a record for the first round. Two pitches later, Dean plated Shin with a towering sacrifice fly to left field for a 3-0 Twins lead, with Kim Min-hyuck making the catch right at the wall. The Wiz did virtually n othing against Im for six innings. The only dangerous moment Im faced came in the second inning, when Kang Baek-ho smoked a line drive off the right field wall but was tagged out at second on a strong throw by right fielder Hong Chang-ki. The Wiz managed just one more hit against Im through the sixth. Then they chased the right-hander with a single and a walk to begin the top seventh, as the Twins summoned left-hander Son Ju-young from the bullpen. Son had dominated the Wiz for 5 1/3 innings in relief in Game 3 on Tuesday, when he struck out seven and gave up just two hits in a 6-5 win. On Friday, Son walked the first batter he faced to load the bases with nobody out but kept the damage to just one run. Son struck out pinch hitter Kim Sang-su, who had one of the Wiz's two hits off Son in Game 3. Bae Jung-dae's fielder's choice groundout brought in a run to make it a 3-1 game, but Son struck out Oh Yoon-suk fanning on a 1-2 curveball. The Twins restored their three-run lead in the bottom seventh. Park Ha e-min singled off new pitcher Ko Young-pyo and swiped second base. Jang Sung-woo committed his second error of the evening, as his throw skipped past shortstop Sim Woo-jun and allowed Park to take third. Moon Sung-ju then hit a seeing-eye single through the hole on the left for a 4-1 Twins lead. Son threw two scoreless frames and struck out four, before handing things over to Elieser Hernandez in the ninth. After a leadoff walk, the player fans affectionately call "Eli" struck out Kang Baek-ho and got Hwang Jae-gyun to bounce into a series-ending double play. Hernandez pitched in all five games of the series and struck out 10 batters in 7 1/3 shutout innings. Source: Yonhap News Agency