LG overtook KT Benjamin, which reigned as its ‘natural enemy’, and gained an advantage toward advancing to the playoffs (PO). The main character who defeated ‘LG Killer’ Benjamin was Austin, a foreign hitter.
LG won 6-5 in Game 3 of the semi-playoff (quasi-PO) against KT held at KT Week Park in Suwon on the 8th, based on Austin’s final 3-run shot and Son Joo-young’s 5 and 1/3 innings of scoreless pitching.
LG, which took the lead in the series with 2 wins and 1 loss, is now likely to advance to the PO where Samsung, which ranked second in the regular season, is waiting. In the semi-PO, which was held with a 3-win system out of 5, there have been 6 instances where the first two games resulted in 1 win and 1 loss, and the team that won the 3rd game advanced to the PO without a single exception.
It was like watching a déjà vu from Game 3 of last year’s Korean Series, when the two teams faced each other. Last year, in Game 3 of the Korean Series, which was tight with 1 win and 1 loss, KT started Benjamin as the starter. Benjamin showed his strongest side in last year’s regular season, appearing in 5 games against LG and recording 4 wins and an ERA of 0.84.
It was Austin who knocked on Benjamin. Austin fired the first three points against Benjamin, who was struggling in the top of the third inning when the score was tied 0-0. Benjamin ultimately showed a poor performance, allowing 7 hits and 4 runs in 5 innings, and LG won 8-7 after a close game in which LG came from behind.
In the ‘return match’ held at Jun-PO after a year, memories from last year were recalled. LG fell behind 2-3 in the fourth inning due to Benjamin’s good pitching and KT’s concentrated hitting. However, LG had Austin, who was the RBI leader in the regular season this season.
Austin, who entered the batter’s box with one out and first and second base on Moon Seong-joo’s walk and Shin Min-jae’s left-field hit, kicked Benjamin’s cut fastball (141 km/h) inside the first pitch and fired a come-from-behind three-run shot that went well over the left field fence. Austin performed well with 3 hits in 5 at-bats and 3 RBIs, including an infield hit next to the third baseman in the 7th and a clean hit to right in the 9th.
On the other hand, Benjamin, who was strong against LG in this year’s regular season with 4 games, 1 win, 1 loss, and an ERA of 1.93, gave up 6 hits, including 2 home runs, and 5 runs (4 earned runs) in 5 innings on this day, and was replaced by Kim Min-soo starting in the 6th inning. Benjamin, who gave up more home runs and scores than last year, also suffered from the burden of a losing pitcher.
As for the pitching staff, left-handed pitcher Son Joo-young, who played a key role in LG’s starting lineup with 9 wins (10 losses) this year, shone with a surprising pitching performance.
Son Joo-young, who took the mound in the 3rd inning with 2 outs and 1st and 2nd bases after starting pitcher Choi Won-tae, who retired after pitching 2 and 2/3 innings, pitched 5 1/3 innings until the 8th inning, allowing 2 hits, no walks, 7 strikeouts, and no runs. A close pitch saved the team in crisis.
Son Joo-young, who was included in the 30-man lineup for last year’s Korean Series but was the only player not to play, showed off a brilliant pitch in his first postseason game and gave the team a valuable victory.
LG coach Yeom Kyung-yeop said, “Son Joo-young played the best. “He did a perfect job as a long man,” he said. “I thought about it until the 9th inning, but I saw the ball’s rotation rate drop from the 8th inning, so I replaced him with Yoo Young-chan.”
The game, which almost went easily, fell into limbo again when LG closing pitcher Yoo Young-chan, who came on the mound in the bottom of the 9th inning, hit a 2-run home run to Bae Jeong-dae. Yoo Young-chan, who took the mound with the score at 6-3, allowed a hit to leadoff hitter Hwang Jae-gyun, and then hit a two-run home run to Bae Jeong-dae with one out, allowing the team to trail to 5-6.
LG had no choice but to put foreign pitcher Hernández on the mound to face the remaining two batters. Hernández, who pitched in games 1 and 2 as a semi-PO, pitched two-thirds of the innings without allowing a run and maintained the victory by one point. Coach Yeom, who said before the game, “There is a 99% chance that Hernández will not pitch today,” added, “I felt uneasy about Young-chan, who pitched in the 9th inning, so I had him prepare right away. An unavoidable situation arose, so I wrote it right away. “If we win the fourth game, I will definitely go for it,” he said.
The fourth semi-PO match between the two teams will be held at the same location at 2 p.m. on the 9th. LG announced Ens and KT announced Cuevas as the starters. Suwon = Lee Heon-jae [email protected] Reporter Lim Bomi