Samsung Lions seal win after defiant 8th-inning comeback against NC Dinos

DAEGU — Samsung Lions claimed a dramatic comeback victory over the NC Dinos.

The Lions defeated the Dinos 8-7 at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on Tuesday. Samsung improved to 32-20-1 with its second straight win and moved into second place, a half-game ahead of the KT Wiz at 32-21-1. The Dinos fell to 22-30-1 and snapped a two-game winning streak while remaining in seventh place.

The teams traded home runs in the first inning. The Dinos leadoff hitter Kim Ju-won opened the scoring by driving a fastball from Samsung starter Ariel Jurado over the wall in right-center field. It was Kim's fifth first-inning leadoff home run of the season.

The Lions' Kim Seong-yoon hit a solo shot to right field off the Dinos starter Natsuki Toda.

The Dinos created a major scoring opportunity in the third inning. A walk by Kim Hyung-jun and singles by Oh Jang-han and Kim Ju-won loaded the bases with no outs. Lee Woo-sung then grounded into a double play. Kim Hyung-jun did score, but Park Min-woo followed with a groundout, limiting the damage to one run but giving the Dinos a 2-1 lead.

The Dinos added two runs in the fourth inning and another in the fifth on Park's RBI double.

The Lions responded immediately. Lee Jae-hyun hit a solo home run, and Lewin Diaz followed with an RBI single with two outs and runners on first and second. The Dinos replaced Toda with Bae Jae-whan, who struck out Kang Min-ho to end the inning.

The Dinos scored two more runs in the sixth, while Samsung added one to make it 7-4.

The game turned in the bottom of the eighth.

With one out and runners on first and third, Park Seung-kyu connected on the first pitch from the Dinos setup reliever Lim Ji-min and launched a game-tying three-run homer over the left-field wall.

The Lions kept the pressure on. After two outs, Yang Woo-hyun drew a walk and stole second. Kim Seong-yoon then dropped a blooper in front of center fielder Han Suk-hyun , driving in the go-ahead run.

Closer Kim Jae-yoon worked the ninth inning for his 13th save of the season.

The LG Twins defeated the KT Wiz 10-1 in a matchup between the top two teams in the standings in Suwon, Gyeonggi.

The Twins extended their winning streak to four games, while the Wiz saw its four-game winning streak come to an end and slipped to third place.

Austin Dean hit a two-run home run in the third inning to become just the fourth foreign player in KBO history to reach 100 career home runs. The homer also tied him with Kia Tigers slugger Kim Do-yeong for the league lead with 14.

In a matchup between two struggling teams, the Kiwoom Heroes defeated the SSG Landers 12-5 to snap an eight-game losing streak. The Landers extended their franchise-record skid to 13 games.

Newly acquired Keston Hiura broke a 1-1 tie with a two-run homer in the third inning. It was his first KBO home run and came in just his second game.

The Doosan Bears defeated the Hanwha Eagles 5-3 to move within 1.5 games of the fifth-place Eagles.

Bears starter Wes Benjamin allowed two hits and struck out nine over 6 1/3 innings. Kang Seung-ho and Jung Soo-bin each hit solo home runs in the third inning. Jung has homered three times in his last four games.

The Kia Tigers edged the Lotte Giants 5-4 in Gwangju.

The Tigers snapped a three-game losing streak, while the Giants dropped their third straight.

The Tigers built an early 3-0 lead on a home run by Aderlin Rodriguez and a two-run hit from Park Jae-hyun. The Giants rallied in the top of the eighth and took a 4-3 lead behind Son Ho-young's two-run double.

The Tigers answered immediately when Na Sung-bum tied the game with a solo home run in the bottom of the inning. In the ninth, Han Joon-soo lifted a walk-off sacrifice fly to seal the victory.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

BY KIM HYO-KYOUNG [[email protected]]