Seoul: Riding a relentless offense and solid pitching, the LG Twins beat up on the Hanwha Eagles 8-2 to take the opening game of the Korean Series at home Sunday. Shin Min-jae had three hits, three runs, and two RBIs to pace the attack from the No. 2 spot, while starter Anders Tolhurst struck out seven over six innings of two-run ball, as the Twins claimed the ever-important first game of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) championship round before a sellout crowd of 23,750 at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul.
According to Yonhap News Agency, winners of the first game have gone on to take the Korean Series about 73 percent of the time so far. Game 2 is back at Jamsil at 6:30 p.m. Monday. The Twins are pursuing their second KBO title in three years, after ending a 29-year drought in 2023. The Eagles have not won a Korean Series title since 1999 and are playing in their first championship round since 2006.
The Twins struck twice in the bottom of the first. Hong Chang-ki worked a seven-pitch walk to lead things off against starter Moon Dong-ju, who then allowed an infield single to Shin Min-jae. Two batters later, with Kim Hyun-soo at the plate, Moon’s wild pitch allowed each runner to advance a bag. Then Hong scored on Kim’s soft grounder to second baseman Ha Ju-suk. Shin took third on the play, and Moon Bo-gyeong drove him home by lining a double to left-center gap for a 2-0 Twins lead.
The Eagles created some traffic on the base paths against Tolhurst, who wiggled out of early jams and then settled down nicely. Tolhurst retired eight straight batters in one stretch, five of them via strikeouts. Choi In-ho ended that streak by leading off the top fifth with a double to center field and took third on a sacrifice bunt. But Tolhurst sat down the next two batters to keep the Eagles off the board, striking out Son Ah-seop with a high fastball to end the threat.
Park Hae-min then extended the Twins’ lead to 3-0 with a solo home run to lead off the bottom fifth. The light-hitting captain only hit three home runs in 144 regular-season games this year and just two in 30 previous postseason games before his stunning dinger Sunday. Two batters later, Shin Min-jae tripled to deep center and came home to put the Twins up 4-0 on Austin Dean’s fielder’s choice grounder to third baseman Roh Si-hwan. After fielding a hard chopper, Roh had plenty of time to get Shin at home but yanked his throw to pull catcher Choi Jae-hoon off the plate. The run-scoring play knocked Moon Dong-ju out of the game.
The Eagles’ bats came alive against Tolhurst in the top sixth and slashed the Twins’ lead in half. Luis Liberato led off with a double, moved to third on a groundout, and came home on Roh Si-hwan’s single. Roh took third on a follow-up single by Chae Eun-seong, and Ha Ju-suk’s sacrifice fly scored Roh to turn it into a 4-2 game.
The Twins, though, pulled further ahead in the bottom sixth with a four-spot against a shaky Eagles bullpen. They loaded the bases without a hit, with Jeong Woo-joo walking a batter and hitting another, and Cho Dong-uk issuing another free pass. Park Sang-won, the Eagles’ third pitcher of the inning, surrendered a two-run single to Shin Min-jae, an RBI knock to Kim Hyun-soo, and another RBI hit to Moon Bo-gyeong.
After Tolhurst worked six innings, three relievers each tossed a hitless inning to close out the comfortable win. The Twins will try to take a commanding 2-0 series lead Monday night with right-hander Im Chan-kyu as their starter. Im went 2-1 with a 1.59 ERA in five regular-season starts against the Eagles — his lowest ERA against any opponent this year. He struck out 21 and walked seven in 25 innings and did not surrender a home run.
The Eagles will counter with left-hander Ryu Hyun-jin, a two-time Cy Young Award finalist in his second tour of duty with the Eagles. Ryu went 1-0 with a 1.08 ERA in four regular-season starts against the Twins, while striking out 21 and walking two in 25 innings. Ryu surrendered two home runs, one each to Austin Dean and Park Dong-won.