Five-run first inning puts Kia just one win from KBO's second round

GWANGJU — The Kia Tigers are one win away from the second round of the KBO playoffs after a five-run first inning carried them past the LG Twins for a second straight win at home.

Kia beat LG 6-3 in Game 2 of the first round on Sunday at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field, a day after taking Game 1 5-1. One more win in the remaining three games of the best-of-five series would send Kia to the second round, where the Samsung Lions are waiting. Teams that have won the first two games of a best-of-five first round have advanced seven times out of nine, or 77.8 percent of the time.

Kia reliever Jeon Sang-hyun was named the Game 2 MVP after recording a four-out save for the second day in a row. The series now moves to LG’s home, Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, for Game 3 on Tuesday after a day off.

Kia's bats were hot right from the start. In the first inning, with one out, Park Jae-hyun singled to left and stole second, and Kim Do-yeong drew a walk. Harold Castro drove in the opening run with a single to right. Na Sung-bum, Kim Sun-bin and Han Jun-su then hit three straight doubles to bring in four more runs and make it 5-0.

Ha Ju-suk followed with a single to right, Kia’s sixth hit of the inning, which tied the record for most hits in an inning in a first-round playoff game. Kia’s five straight hits and seven straight batters reaching base also matched first-round records, and the five runs tied the postseason record for the bottom of the first inning.

Kia then went quiet against LG’s bullpen after that until the seventh, when Park doubled and Na brought him home with a sacrifice fly for an insurance run.

Kia starter Adam Oller held LG to two runs on six hits and a walk over six innings and struck out eight. He earned the win in his first KBO postseason start.

LG starter Im Chan-kyu gave up five runs on six hits and a walk and was pulled after getting just one out. Relievers Jon Kennedy, Lee Woo-chan, Woo Kang-hoon and Son Ju-young took over from there, giving up no more runs in the first and only a run each in the third, fifth and eighth.

Despite on and off heavy rain, all 18,900 tickets sold out about an hour after the first pitch. That extended the KBO’s run of postseason sellouts to 40 straight games, a streak that began with Game 1 of the 2023 Korean Series. Total postseason attendance this year rose to 61,450.

BY KO BONG-JUN [[email protected]]