“We could win with Diaz's two home runs.”
This couldn't be more thrilling. The Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization produced an unscripted drama.
Samsung won 3-2 against the KIA Tigers in Daegu on the 25th. With this victory, Samsung finished the weekend three-game series with 2 wins and 1 loss. Lewin Diaz, a foreign hitter leading the league in home runs this season, led the team to victory with a two-run homer in the first inning and a walk-off home run in the ninth.
KIA smiled first. In the first inning with two outs and no runners on base, Kim Do-young struck hard against Samsung's starting pitcher Won Tae-in. With a ball count of 1B-2S, he targeted the fourth fastball (149 km) and hit it over the right field fence. The distance was 115 meters. With this, Kim Do-young experienced his first four-game hitting streak since his debut.
Samsung started a counterattack and turned the game around in the bottom of the first inning when they were trailing 0-1 with Lewin Diaz’s one hit. With two outs and a runner on first base, Lewin Diaz faced the first pitch fastball from KIA's left-handed starter Yoon Young-chul and pulled it hard for a two-run homer over the center field, connecting it. The distance was 125 meters.
After that, there was a streak of zeros. The silence was broken by KIA. After two outs in the seventh inning, Kim Tae-gun hit a solo homer to left-center off Samsung's second pitcher Baek Jung-hyun, leveling the score at 2-2. Samsung had a chance with one out and runners on first and second base at 2-2 in the eighth inning.
Samsung won 3-2 with Diaz's walk-off home run in the ninth. Diaz, leading off the ninth, hit the very first forkball from Jo Sang-woo over the left field fence. The game ended.
Starter Won Tae-in pitched well, throwing six innings while allowing five hits (one home run), striking out seven batters, and allowing one run. After that, Baek Jung-hyun and Bae Chan-seung took responsibility for one inning each, and Lee Ho-sung, who came in during the ninth, closed out the inning cleanly, earning his fifth win of the season.
Manager Park Jin-man noted after the game, “It was a difficult game, and there were moments of crisis, but our pitchers, including starter Won Tae-in, as well as Baek Jung-hyun, Bae Chan-seung, and Lee Ho-sung, performed well while minimizing runs. Especially, we could win thanks to Diaz's two home runs.”
He also added, “I would like to thank the fans who cheered us on during the weekend, and we will prepare to win against Lotte upcoming.”
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