Scruggs' grand slam powers NC past Doosan in Game 1 of KBO playoff
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NC Dinos’ Xavier Scruggs celebrates his game-winning grand slam home run as he rounds the base in the top of the fifth inning of his team’s Game 1 of the playoff series against the Doosan Bears at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, Tuesday. The Dinos won 13-5. / Yonhap
By Baek Byung-yeul
Xavier Scruggs hit a grand slam to lift the NC Dinos to a 13-5 win over the Doosan Bears in their Game 1 of playoff series in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League, Tuesday.
The Dinos, who advanced to the best-of-five playoff series after defeating the Lotte Giants in the first playoff round Sunday, played the defending champion Bears at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul.
It was the Bears who scored first. In the bottom of the second inning, the Bears’ catcher Yang Eui-ji launched a solo home run against the Dinos’ starter Jang Hyun-sik. The Dinos responded with two runs in the following inning as Park Min-woo hit a two-out, two-run single for his team’s 2-1 lead.
However, the Bears took a lead again in the fourth. With bases loaded and no outs, Yang delivered a single to tie the score at 2-2 and third baseman Kim Jae-hwan scored when Hur Kyoung-min hit a high chopper to shortstop. Then Ryu Ji-hyuk hit a single for another run to make the score 4-2.
The game-winning home run came in the top of the fifth inning as the Dinos’ first baseman Scruggs crushed a grand slam off the Bears’ starter Dustin Nippert.
This was his second home run in the postseason. The American slugger fired 35 home runs with 111 RBIs in the regular season but had been buried by a postseason slump, batting .190.
The Bears added one more run in the bottom fifth as Oh Jae-il delivered a RBI single, but the Dinos seized a 1-0 series lead by scoring seven runs in the eighth.
With the win, the Dinos need two more wins to face the Kia Tigers in the best-of-seven Korean Series. The two teams will play Game 2 of their series Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.