Seoul: The Kiwoom Heroes and the Kia Tigers battled to a 5-5 tie in their latest Korea Baseball Organization game Thursday night in Seoul, after each blew multiple opportunities to claim the victory.
According to Yonhap News Agency, with his team down 5-4 entering the bottom 11th, Heroes captain Song Sung-mun delivered a game-tying triple for his third RBI of the night in front of a sellout crowd of 16,000 at Gocheok Sky Dome. With two outs, the Tigers intentionally walked two straight batters to load the bases and set up a force everywhere, and Park Ju-hong popped out to shortstop to end the back-and-forth contest.
All three games of this series were played in a packed house, with the Heroes winning the opener Tuesday and the Tigers taking the next game Wednesday. The Tigers are now 39-34-3 (wins-losses-ties), still good for fourth place. The Heroes remained in last place at 22-54-3.
The Tigers scored first in the top of the first, when Park Chan-ho, after hitting a double and moving to third on a flyout, scored on a wild pitch by Heroes starter Ha Yeong-min. The Heroes tied things up in the bottom third, when captain Song Sung-mun doubled off starter Kim Keon-kuk to cash in Jeon Tae-hyun.
The Tigers regained their lead in the top fourth, courtesy of Choi Hyoung-woo's RBI single that scored Oh Sun-woo, who'd singled and reached second on another wild pitch by Ha. The Tigers pushed their lead to 3-1 in the top fifth, thanks to timely hitting and aggressive baserunning.
Standing at first after a one-out walk, Park Min took off on a hit-and-run when Lee Chang-jin roped a single to right. Right fielder Ju Seong-won did well to keep the ball in front of him after failing to make a diving grab on the sinking liner. But as the ball bounced away from Ju, Park sped around the bases without even looking back and easily scored the Tigers' third run. But the Heroes punched right back with three runs in the bottom fifth.
Song delivered his second RBI double of the game to cut the deficit to 3-2. Then with runners at second and third, third baseman Patrick Wisdom fielded a grounder off Im Ji-yeol's bat but ended up hitting the lead runner, Lee Yong-kyu, in the back with his throw home. As the ball rolled toward the backstop, Lee trotted home to tie the game at 3-3.
Now with runners at the corners, Lee Ju-hyoung hit a grounder right at second baseman Park Min for what could have been an inning-ending double play. But after Im got forced at second, Lee ran hard down the line and beat the throw by shortstop Park Chan-ho, allowing Song to score from third for a 4-3 Heroes lead.
The Tigers had their answer in the seventh. Kim Ho-ryung led off the inning with a double and knocked Ha out of the game. Reliever Won Jong-hyan got the first out but after he threw a wild pitch to let Kim take third, pinch hitter Han Jun-su drove a single through the drawn-in infield to knot the score at 4-4.
The Tigers stranded a runner at second in the top ninth before the Heroes did the same in the bottom ninth, sending the game into the extras. The Tigers failed to cash in after putting runners at the corners with one out in the top 10th, with Patrick Wisdom and Choi Won-jun striking out against rookie reliever Lee Jun-woo.
The Heroes wasted an even bigger opportunity in the bottom 10th, when Kim Dong-heon struck out with the bases loaded. The Tigers took their turn in loading the bases in the top 11th, and they capitalized on that chance with Park Chan-ho's sacrifice fly.
But the lead only lasted a half inning. After pinch hitter Stone Garrett opened the bottom 11th with a single, Song brought him home with his three-bagger, which turned out to be the last of the Heroes' 11 hits in this game.