By Yoo Jee-ho
SEOUL, Oct. 10 (Yonhap) — With a ticket to the next round in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason at stake, a pair of homegrown right-handers will square off in a rematch Friday evening.
In Game 5 of the best-of-five first round, the home team LG Twins will start Im Chan-kyu at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. The KT Wiz will counter with Um Sang-back.
LG Twins starter Im Chan-kyu pitches against the KT Wiz during Game 2 of the first round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Oct. 6, 2024. (Yonhap)
The series is knotted at two games apiece, following the Wiz’s 6-5 victory in 11 innings Wednesday. The Wiz are trying to become the first team to overcome a 2-1 series deficit to take the first round.
Im and Um both started Game 2 on Sunday, with Im being credited with the win in a 7-2 victory after holding the Wiz to two runs — one unearned — on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Um was the losing pitcher after giving up four runs on six hits in four innings.
Following an offday, both teams are expected to take an all-hands-on-deck approach with their bullpen usage.
For the Twins, former starter Elieser Hernandez has appeared in all four games of the series in relief and he has struck out nine in 6 1/3 shutout innings.
Another starter, Son Ju-young, was dominant in 5 1/3 innings out of the bullpen in Tuesday’s Game 3, when he relieved struggling starter Choi Won-tae and struck out seven in a 6-5 win.
Sidearm pitcher Ko Young-pyo has covered 7 1/3 innings in one start and one relief appearance, including 3 1/3 innings of one-run ball out of the bullpen Wednesday.
Closer Park Yeong-hyun threw his career-high 3 1/3 innings in that Wednesday’s game and retired all 10 batters he faced, three via strikeouts. He will be available Friday.
On offense, the Twins have hit four home runs, but all of them came in road games at hitter-friendly KT Wiz Park in Suwon, south of Seoul. No. 2 hitter Shin Min-jae leads the team with six hits, four steals and a .474 on-base percentage.
For the Wiz, Hwang Jae-gyun went from batting eighth in Game 2 to batting fifth in Game 4, having pieced together six hits in his last three contests. Designated hitter Kang Baek-ho also has six hits, including a home run and a double.
The winner of this series will go on to meet No. 2 seed, Samsung Lions, in the second round starting Sunday.
KT Wiz starter Um Sang-back pitches against the LG Twins during Game 2 of the first round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Oct. 6, 2024. (Yonhap)
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