The LG Twins won Game 3 of the playoffs thanks to a go-ahead three-run homer by Austin, the regular season RBI leader, and brought the series back to a close.
In the third game of the semi-playoff series between the KT Wiz and LG Twins held at Suwon-KT Wiz Park on the 8th, the LG Twins won 6-5 against the KT Wiz, taking the lead by two wins in the series and moving just one step away from advancing to the playoffs (semi-playoff series, best-of-five series).
On this day, the LG Twins played ‘big ball’ baseball reminiscent of last fall, successfully destroying KT’s starting pitcher Wes Benjamin.
KT Wiz was leading the game 3-2 until the 3rd inning, but in the top of the 5th inning, with runners on 1st and 2nd base on LG’s offense, Austin pulled Benjamin’s first pitch, a 140km cutter, and hit a huge, go-ahead 3-run home run that flew 130m over the left field fence.
It wasn’t just the hitters who contributed greatly to the LG Twins’ victory that day.
When Choi Won-tae, who started in Game 3, struggled, giving up 3 runs on 65 pitches in 2 and 2/3 innings, the dugout took him off the mound, and Son Ju-young, who had continued to warm up in Games 1 and 2 but had not had a chance to pitch, took the mound as the second pitcher.
The change was a success. Son Ju-young, who was originally a starting pitcher, struck out seven batters and allowed just two hits in five and a third innings through the eighth inning, earning him the Daily MVP award for Game 3 of the playoffs.
Afterwards, LG’s Yoo Young-chan, who came up as the closer in the bottom of the 9th, allowed a 2-run home run to KT’s Bae Jeong-dae, allowing the team to catch up by one point again.
However, LG immediately brought in foreign mercenary Eliezer Hernandez as their fourth pitcher, and Hernandez shut down KT’s lower batting lineup to earn the save.
