Samsung beat KIA 8-3 at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on the 27th to level the playoff series at one win apiece. Choi Hyung-woo, left out of the Game 1 lineup, returned batting cleanup in left field and went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a solo homer.
According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun, KIA scored first in the top of the third, but Samsung answered with four runs in the bottom half. A Park Seung-kyu double and a Koo Ja-wook RBI single broke the tie before Diaz hit a two-run homer off a 151 km/h fastball from KIA starter Oller. Samsung added a run on Choi's bases-loaded walk in the fifth, then Kim Ji-chan's RBI single and Park's sacrifice fly in the sixth.
광고 문의 · 300×250Choi Hyung-woo's day
The paper said Choi was dropped from the starting lineup in Game 1, a 5-1 Samsung loss in which the team managed only two hits, and was restored to the cleanup spot in Game 2. It was reportedly his first postseason start in left field since the 2018 wild-card game with KIA.
In the bottom of the seventh, with one out and nobody on, he pulled a slider from reliever Kim Beom-su on a 2-0 count for a solo homer. At 42 years, 10 months and 11 days, he set Korean postseason records for oldest player to appear, get a hit, drive in a run and homer. In the top of the sixth he also fielded Castro's extra-base hit off the left-field wall and threw him out at second.
Starter Hurado and the series outlook
Samsung starter Hurado went 6 2/3 innings on 108 pitches, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks, for his first win in five postseason starts. Won Tae-in pitched the ninth for the save with closer Kim Jae-yoon out injured. KIA pulled starter Oller in the fifth, and lefty Lee Eui-ri struggled with walks and a hit batter and took the loss.
The Kyunghyang Shinmun noted that Samsung's middle order came alive with Choi back, producing five of the eight runs from the third to fifth spots. Game 3 is on the 29th in Gwangju, and the series will go at least four games. The Game 3 starting pitchers were not confirmed in this reporting.
