Dinos squeeze past Wiz to reach verge of Korean Series
NC Dinos reliever Ryu Jin-wook pitches during the eighth inning at the game between NC Dinos and KT Wiz during the 2023 KBO professional baseball postseason playoffs held at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Yonhap
Starter Shin Min-hyeok tossed a gem and shortstop Kim Ju-won made a spectacular, game-saving catch with two outs in the ninth, as the NC Dinos hung on to beat the KT Wiz 3-2 on Tuesday to take a stranglehold on their South Korean baseball postseason series.
Shin threw 6 1/3 shutout innings at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, south of Seoul, in only his second career postseason start in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and helped put the Dinos on the verge of reaching the Korean Series for the third time in franchise history.
The Dinos will look to complete a three-game sweep in the best-of-five series Thursday, when the series moves to their home, Changwon NC Park in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province. Game 3 is 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
The Wiz had the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom ninth, and Kim Ju-won laid out to catch a soft liner by Oh Yoon-suk just before the ball hit the ground, preventing the tying run and potentially saving the game.
"As soon as the ball left the bat, I didn't think of anything else but throwing my body and making the catch," Kim Ju-won said of the best defensive play of his career. "It feels even sweeter to win such a tight game."
In 32 previous second rounds played in the best-of-five format, a team jumped out to a 2-0 series lead 18 times. And only two teams -- 1996 Hyundai Unicorns and 2009 SK Wyverns -- rallied to win the series. Just the 1993 LG Twins, 1997 Samsung Lions and 2018 Nexen Heroes even forced a Game 5 in that scenario before bowing out.
No. 3 hitter Park Kun-woo belted a two-run home run off starter Wes Benjamin in the first inning and fell a triple shy of a cycle. He batted 3-for-4 on Monday and is hitting .458 (11-for-24) for the postseason.
The Dinos have won nine straight postseason games, dating to 2020, to tie the all-time record.
Dinos manager Kang In-kwon said Shin and his catcher Kim Hyung-jun were the MVPs of this game.
"Honestly, I never expected Min-hyeok to pitch this well. I think he thrives in big games," Kang said. "Shin has been pitching great, and Kim Hyung-jun has been a great game caller behind the plate, too."
Staying true to their postseason form, the Dinos opened the scoring for the fifth consecutive game and did so in the first inning for the fourth game in a row.
This time, Park Kun-woo provided the early spark with a two-run homer off starter Wes Benjamin. After Park Min-woo singled up the middle after a seven-pitch battle, Park Kun-woo clobbered a first-pitch cutter from Benjamin for his third career postseason home run and first since the 2019 Korean Series.
The Wiz gift-wrapped a run to the Dinos with an error by first baseman Park Byung-ho in the top of the third.
With Kim Ju-won at third base after a leadoff triple, Son Ah-seop sent a chopper toward Park, who bobbled the ball in an ill-fated backhand attempt. As the ball trickled past Park, Kim scored easily from third to push the Dinos' lead to 3-0.
It was the third error of this series by the Wiz, who made the fewest errors in the regular season with 99.
Staked to the early three-run lead, Shin Min-hyeok cruised along. The Wiz managed only one hit against the 24-year-old through five frames, a two-out double by Moon Sang-chul in the bottom second.
The Wiz created some traffic on the bases against Shin in the bottom seventh. After a one-out walk by Anthony Alford, Park Byung-ho hit a grounder to third for what should have been the start of a deflating, inning-ending double play.
But second baseman Park Min-woo dropped a throw from third baseman Seo Ho-cheol, giving the Wiz two base runners for the first time in the game.
The Dinos summoned right-hander Ryu Jin-wook from the bullpen to put out the fire. Ryu did just that, getting Jang Sung-woo to ground into a 1-6-3 twin killing.
The Wiz finally broke through in the eighth, capitalizing on some shoddy Dinos defense.
After a one-out walk, Bae Jung-dae kept the inning alive with a single to left. But left fielder Kwon Hui-dong couldn't field the ball cleanly, allowing both runners to take an extra base.
Pinch hitter Oh Yoon-suk then drove in the Wiz's first run with a sacrifice fly to center.
Dinos closer Lee Yong-chan came on, but Kim Sang-su singled up the middle to make it a 3-2 game.
Hwang Jae-gyun followed up with a single to represent the go-ahead run at first. But Lee struck out Alford on three pitches to escape the jam.
Lee Yong-chan returned for the ninth inning and, as he had done throughout the postseason, the veteran walked a tightrope.
Lee gave up back-to-back singles to start the ninth, with pinch runner Lee Sang-ho taking third base on the second hit when a chopper by Jang Sung-woo went off second baseman Park Min-woo's glove and rolled to the outfield grass.
With men at the corners, Lee cleared the first hurdle by striking out Moon Sang-chul.
Lee then punched out pinch hitter Kim Jun-tae, with pinch runner Jeong Jun-young stealing second.
With the first base open, Lee elected to intentionally walk Bae Jung-dae, who hit a grand slam off Lee in Monday's game. That put a force play in order at every base for Oh Yoon-suk.
At 2-1 count, Oh sent a sinking liner toward the hole between second and third. Kim went hard to his right and laid out to make the improbable grab, setting off a wild celebration from his dugout.
Umpires had a video review to confirm Kim caught the ball before it hit the ground.
"When the ball left the bat, I thought it was going to be a hit," Dinos manager Kang In-kwon said. "I think Ju-won had positioned himself really well and made an incredible dive. His older teammates made a mess, and the youngest guy on the field (at 21) took us to the victory."
Wiz skipper Lee Kang-chul praised his batters for making a late push but said, "We just didn't have luck on our side at the end."
With the back against the wall, Lee said, "We have to utilize every player that we can and try to win the next game the best we can." (Yonhap)