(LEAD) Twins outlast Wiz to reach verge of KBO postseason series win

(ATTN: ADDS details from para 6, photos)
By Yoo Jee-ho

SUWON, South Korea, Oct. 8 (Yonhap) -- Powered by a pair of homers and a dominant relief outing from a young hurler, the LG Twins outlasted the KT Wiz 6-5 on Tuesday to move within a win of reaching the next round in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason.

Austin Dean slugged a three-run homer off starter Wes Benjamin in the fifth to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, just south of Seoul, after Park Dong-won had opened the scoring with a solo homer in the second.

Starter-turned-reliever Son Ju-young twirled 5 1/3 shutout innings out of the pen and struck out seven to win in his postseason debut in front of a sellout crowd of 17,600.

The Wiz made things interesting in the bottom ninth with Bae Jung-dae's two-run homer off closer You Young-chan, but Elieser Hernandez came out of the bullpen to put out the fire and got the final two outs.

After taking this sloppy game with multiple lead changes, the Twins now lead the best-of-five series 2-1 and can close out the Wiz in Game 4, set for a 2 p.m. start Wednesday back at KT Wiz Park.

On six previous occasions when the best-of-five first round was tied at 1-1, Game 3 winners advanced to the next round all six times.

The Twins opened the scoring for the first time in this series, with Park Dong-won taking Benjamin deep for a solo home run in the top of the second.

Park smoked a 1-0 slider that hung over the inside part of the plate and sent it 125 meters into the seats in left.

It was the Twins' first long ball of this series. Park batted fifth Tuesday after hitting out of the seventh spot in each of the past two games.

The Wiz responded immediately in the bottom second.

After Kim Sang-su reached with an infield hit, Bae Jung-dae lined a single to center to move Kim to third. As Kim slid safely into the bag, Bae sprinted to second base on a throw to third.

Trying to nab Bae at second, third baseman Moon Bo-gyeong instead short-hopped a throw to shortstop Oh Ji-hwan, and Kim scored easily as the ball skipped into the center field.

The Twins reclaimed their one-run lead in the top of the third.

After Park Hae-min led off the inning with a double and was sacrificed over to third base, Hong Chang-ki brought him home with a double of his own. Hong took third on Benjamin's wild pitch.

Shin Min-jae drew a walk to put runners at the corners for Austin Dean, who struck out as Shin stole second base.

Shin got hung up between first and second, but instead of trying to tag him, second baseman Kim Sang-su threw to third to get Hong, who slid back in time to keep two runners aboard for the Twins.

Benjamin escaped that jam and got his defense off the hook by striking out cleanup Moon Bo-gyeong to end the inning.

Benjamin's teammates responded by staking him to a 3-2 lead in the bottom third.

With men at the corners, Oh Jae-il plated the tying run with a sacrifice fly to right. A follow-up single by Hwang Jae-gyun chased starter Choi Won-tae from the game. Then against new pitcher Son Ju-young, Kim Sang-su atoned for his earlier defensive miscue with a go-ahead single to left.

The Wiz couldn't keep the inning going, though, as Hwang got tagged out in a rundown between second and third.

And the Twins punched back in the top fifth, courtesy of a lead-flipping, three-run bomb by Dean.

The inning began inauspiciously for the Wiz, with first baseman Oh Jae-il dropping a foul fly by Moon Sung-ju that landed between him and catcher Jang Sung-woo.

Benjamin walked Moon on the next pitch, and two batters later, Shin Min-jae singled to give the Twins two runners aboard.

Dean then ambushed Benjamin on the first-pitch cutter, driving it deep into the left-field seats to put the Twins up 5-3.

The Twins extended their lead in the top sixth with Hong Chang-ki's sacrifice fly against reliever Kim Min-su.

That was all the cushion that Son would need.

After giving up the RBI knock to Kim Sang-su in the third, Son settled down to retire the next seven batters in a row.

Hwang Jae-gyun ended that streak with a one-out single in the bottom sixth, but Son retired the next eight straight batters to keep the Wiz off the board.

Closer You Young-chan came on in the ninth to protect a three-run lead, but he almost blew it when he surrendered a two-run home run to Bae Jung-dae. Hernandez, who had pitched the first two games on the weekend, got the next two outs for the save.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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