SEOUL– The Kiwoom Heroes defeated the KT Wiz 8-4 to open their South Korean baseball postseason series on Sunday, holding off the pesky opponent with a late offensive outburst.

After blowing a 4-0 lead, the Heroes put up a four-spot in the bottom eighth at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, taking the early lead in the best-of-five series in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason.

Game 2 is back at Gocheok Sky Dome at 6:30 p.m. Monday.

There have been 13 previous occasions when the first round was held in a best-of-five format, and the team that claimed the first game has gone on to advance to the next round nine times.
In the fateful eighth inning, No. 9 hitter Song Sung-mun broke the 4-4 tie with an RBI single off reliever Kim Min-su. Then facing new pitcher Kim Jae-yoon, Kim Jun-wan brought in another run with a sacrifice fly.

Im Ji-yeol, who’d come off the bench in the seventh, blew the game wide open with a two-run homer over the right field wall, making it an 8-4 contest.

The Heroes got on the board in the first inning against starter Um Sang-back, as Lee Jung-hoo’s RBI groundout drove in Kim Jun-wan, who led off the game with a double and was sacrificed over to third to set up the run-scoring play.

The Heroes doubled their lead with another infield groundball in the second inning. With two aboard, Lee Ji-young lined a one-hopper to shortstop Shim Woo-jun, who made a fine diving grab and got the force out at second. Yasiel Puig, who began the inning with a double, scored easily as Lee beat the throw at first.

Puig gave the Heroes a 3-0 lead with a two-out RBI single in the third inning. He didn’t have a hit in six plate appearances against Um in the regular season but got two in his first two trips to the plate on Sunday.

The lead grew to 4-0 in the bottom sixth, thanks to a sacrifice fly by Song Sung-mun. With the first base open, the Wiz intentionally walked pinch hitter Kim Woong-bin to face Song, who made them pay by extending the Heroes’ lead.

On the mound, Kiwoom starter An Woo-jin was in complete control. After giving up a leadoff single to Bae Jung-dae, An sat down the next 10 batters in a row, six via strikeouts.

Anthony Alford broke that streak with one out on in the fourth, and An struck out the next two batters to close out the inning.

An pitched around a two-out walk in the fifth. In the sixth, Alford line a hit to center field but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double.

And that was the last batter An faced: he was pulled after 88 pitches because of blisters in his right index and middle fingers.

The Heroes summoned right-hander Kim Tae-hoon out of the bullpen to start the seventh. Right on cue, the Wiz put together a rally.

Park Byung-ho, a former Heroes slugger, led off the seventh with a towering solo home run to straightaway center field. Kim was pulled after giving up a single to Jang Sung-woo.

New pitcher Choi Won-tae issued a walk right away, and after a strikeout, No. 8 hitter Shim Woo-jun smoked a double off the left field wall to cash in two runners, making it a 4-3 game.

That slim lead was gone in the next inning. After the Wiz worked a walk and a single against new pitcher Yang Hyun, Kang Baek-ho knocked in the tying run with a single to right field.

But the Heroes saved their best for the last. Song, who came in with a career postseason batting average of .426 in 21 games, further added to his October legacy with the clutch hit, and Im’s blast in his first career postseason game was the icing on the cake.

The Heroes’ bullpen wasted An’s dominant outing, but closer Kim Jae-woong pitched a clean ninth to lock down the win.

Kiwoom manager Hong Won-ki said An’s blisters aren’t that serious and he should be good to make his next outing.

“If this had been the last game of the season, we would have pushed him further,” Hong said. “But we have more baseball left in this series. It was a difficult decision but we had to lift him.”

Though the bullpen had trouble keeping the Wiz at bay, Hong still said his relievers did their part by keeping the score tied, setting the stage for the offensive explosion in the bottom eighth.

“Song Sung-mun swung the momentum in our favor with that big hit, and it got the bench all fired up,” Hong said. “I don’t think I will move him up in the lineup, though. He’s swinging the bat well but he can be that bridge between the low end and the top of the lineup. He will be coming up in huge spots later, too.”

The Heroes will send left-hander Eric Jokisch to start Game 2. He had a 10-8 mark with a 2.57 ERA in the regular season and held the Wiz to a run in 20 1/3 innings in three starts.

The Wiz will counter with their own American lefty in Wes Benjamin, who pitched to a 2.70 ERA in the regular season.

He held the Heroes to two earned runs in 23 innings over four regular season starts.

Source: Yonhap News Agency