After remaining silent since the first inning, the frustrating lineup exploded in the ninth. They produced a big inning and pulled off a thrilling come-from-behind victory. They rose to sole first place.
Professional baseball's LG Twins produced a dramatic ninth-inning comeback against the Doosan Bears in the "Jamsil rivalry" and earned their second straight win. LG beat Doosan 7-5 in the game held at Jamsil Stadium on the 25th.
LG improved to 16-7 with the win, pulling half a game ahead of KT Wiz (16-8), who had been caught by SSG Landers (15-8) that day, and moved into sole first place.
LG attacked Doosan starter Choi Min-seok in the first inning to score three runs and seize the initiative. But ace Tolhurst struggled with command and gave up three walks in the bottom of the first, immediately allowing two runs, and in the second he gave up a two-run homer to Park Chan-ho that surrendered the lead. They also allowed one run in the third and trailed 3-5.
LG continued a difficult game when, with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth, Park Dong-won grounded into a double play to the shortstop. In the ninth and final at-bat, trailing 3-5, the lineup erupted against Doosan left-hander Lee Byung-hun.
Backups came in as pinch hitters and created a chance. Song Chan-ui came in to pinch hit for Park Dong-won and reached on a double that hit the left-field fence on one bounce. Then Gu Bon-hyeok, who pinch hit for Shin Min-jae, hit a single to left to create a no-out, runners on first and third chance. When Hong Chang-gi hit a grounder to first base, the runner at third tried to score but was tagged out.
With one out and runners at first and second, Cheon Seong-ho drew a walk to load the bases. Austin, who had been out on a fly ball against Lee Byung-hun the day before, hit a two-run rbi single to tie the game 5-5. The momentum heated up. Moon Bo-gyeong hit a single to center to again create a one-out, bases-loaded chance. Moon Sung-ju hit an rbi single to center off reliever Yoon Tae-ho to give them a 6-5 lead, and Oh Ji-hwan extended the lead to 7-5 with a sacrifice fly.
LG starter Tolhurst allowed five runs on seven hits, one home run, four walks and two strikeouts over five innings. Ham Deok-ju came in for the sixth and threw a scoreless inning, Kim Jin-soo threw two scoreless innings (earning the win in relief), and Jang Hyun-sik preserved the victory with a scoreless ninth.
After the game, manager Youm Kyoung-youb said, "Tolhurst's command wavered and it became a difficult game, but after the fifth inning Ham Deok-ju and Kim Jin-soo kept runs from scoring and protected the innings, which provided the foundation for the victory, and Jang Hyun-sik came in as the closer and shut it down cleanly so we could win."
He added, "In the ninth the lineup turned the tide in our favor as Song Chan-ui and Gu Bon-hyeok produced good hits to create chances, and the core hitters Austin, Moon Bo-gyeong, Moon Sung-ju and Oh Ji-hwan combined for four rbis to produce the victory."
Manager Youm said, "I want to praise the players who never gave up and showed concentration to produce the come-from-behind win, and I also thank the fans who stayed until the end and cheered until the final moment, which helped the players maintain focus and achieve the comeback victory."
With closer Yoo Young-chan sidelined by an elbow injury the day before (the 24th), Jang Hyun-sik, who came in to record a save in the ninth, said, "I thought today's pitching was pitching for Young-chan and I threw it that way. My heart feels bad and it's very disappointing, but we have to cover Young-chan's share, so we all have to do well for Young-chan's part."
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