In what was supposed to be a pitcher’s duel between two of the KBO’s best pitchers, the Kia Tigers knocked out Samsung Lions’ ace Won Tae-In in the Korean Series en route to a 9-2 win. The victory gives the Tigers a commanding 3-1 series lead and has them just one win away from their 12th KBO title.
After tossing five scoreless innings in Game 1, it became evident early on that Won was not nearly as sharp in his second outing of the series. The Tigers exceeded their opening game output in the very first inning, as Park Chan-ho and Kim Sun-bin led off the game with a single and double, respectively, and Na Sung-bum plated Park with an RBI groundout.
Won would temporarily rebound with a scoreless second inning, but the floodgates burst completely open in the third. A pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases with nobody out, and Socrates Brito made the score 3-0 with a two-run single. A second walk marked the end of the day for Won, and Soon Eun-beon entered to try and limit the damage. He got a crucial second out when Byeon Woo-hyeok popped out to the catcher, leaving the inning in the hands of nine-hole hitter Kim Tae-gun. The light-hitting catcher had just 32 career home runs to his name in his 17-career KBO career, but he stunned the Samsung crowd with a grand slam over the left-field wall to give the Tigers a commanding 7-0 lead.
스윙 한 방에 4점 ❤️????❤️????❤️????❤️????
만루홈런 작렬하는 김태군 pic.twitter.com/PVII5tNqVF— 디디 (@3di3di_) October 26, 2024
The seven-run outburst would prove more than enough for KBO’s ERA leader James Naile. Making just his second start after suffering a fractured jaw on a line-drive comebacker in August, Naile limited the Lions to just two runs over 5 ⅓ innings. Brito would push the lead back up to seven with a two-run homer in the sixth, and the Tigers would go on to win 9-2.
테스형!!!!!투런!!!!!!!!!!♡ pic.twitter.com/bv0NGf8CkU
— 디디 (@3di3di_) October 26, 2024
The series will now shift back to Gwanju-Kia Champions Field for the next three games, giving the Tigers the rare opportunity to celebrate a championship at home. Though they have claimed 11 KBO titles, only once have they secured the final victory in front of their own fans. The Lions, meanwhile, will face the daunting task of attempting to overcome a 3-1 series deficit, something only one team has accomplished in 17 tries. First pitch of Game 5 will be Monday at 5:30 a.m. EST.
