Poor fundamentals cost LG Twins chance at KBO playoff sweep

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Oct. 24 (Yonhap) -- Poor fundamentals cost the LG Twins an opportunity to complete a three-game sweep of the NC Dinos in the first round playoff series in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) on Friday.

The Twins had taken the first two games of the best-of-five series on the road and could have finished off the Dinos at their home, Jamsil Stadium in Seoul, on Friday.

Instead, held back by defensive mishaps and botched bunt attempts, the Twins lost the game 4-3, and will have to wait another day for a chance to reach the next round.

The game began inauspiciously for the Twins, as they gift-wrapped a run in the top of the first.

With a speedy runner Kim Jong-ho at first, Eric Thames hit a single up the middle. Center fielder Brad Snyder made a half-hearted charge toward the ball, and Kim sprinted for third.

The throw was off the mark and not in time anyway. Thames took off for second on the play, and third baseman Son Joo-in made a mediocre throw to second that skipped off the glove of shortstop Oh Ji-hwan and into the outfield grass. Kim came home without a throw to put the Dinos on board.

On the offensive end, the Twins put themselves out of a rally twice on poor bunt attempts. In the bottom second, with runners on second and third with one out, Choi Gyeong-cheol bunted right at back to first baseman Thames, who tossed home to start a rundown that nailed Lee Jin-young.

It was a head-scratching play, given that Choi had been the Twins' hottest hitter in the postseason carrying a .500 batting average heading into Friday.

The Twins tried to get things going in the bottom seventh. Jeong Seong-hoon led off with a single, but Oh Ji-hwan, trying to advance the runner to second, popped out to catcher in another rally-killing play.

Park Yong-taek, the next batter, followed up with a single, and a run could have been scored if Oh had successfully laid down the bunt.

Oh was a scapegoat on this night. In the bottom of the fifth with the game tied at 2-2, Oh was thrown out at home trying to score from third on a shallow fly to center. Na Sung-bum, who'd started the game in right field but moved to center after Lee Jong-wook left the game with a foot injury, threw a big one hopper to catcher Kim Tae-goon, who applied the tag just in the nick of time for the decisive out.

The Dinos, who were undone by mistakes of their own in the first two games, turned the tables on Friday, making the Twins pay big for their mishaps.

First, it was Lee Ho-jun's tie-breaking solo home run in the top sixth, right after Oh was tagged out at home. Then after Oh's failed bunt attempt in the bottom seventh, the Dinos' Kim Tae-goon drove in the insurance run in the top eighth.

The Twins got to within 4-3 on a wild pitch in the bottom eighth, but yet another runner was thrown out at home later in the inning. Pinch runner Hwangmok Chi-seung couldn't beat the throw home on a hard grounder hit right to second baseman Ji Seok-hun.

In contrast, the Dinos made some key defensive plays to enjoy the first postseason victory in the franchise's history.

Before Na's throw that prevented a run in the fifth, left fielder Kim Jong-ho made a sleek diving grab on a sinking liner in the third inning. The Twins had men on second and third and only managed to get a run in on that catch.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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