The LG Twins defeated the Hanwha Eagles 8-2 in the opening game of the Korean Series at home, emerging as title favorites. Shin Min-jae's hot bat and Anders Tolhurst's strong pitching were key to the victory. Teams winning the first game go on to claim the series about 73 percent of the time.
On October 26, the LG Twins beat the Hanwha Eagles 8-2 in Game 1 of the Korean Series at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. Before a sellout crowd of 23,750, Twins' No. 2 hitter Shin Min-jae paced the offense with three hits, three runs scored and two RBIs. Starter Anders Tolhurst earned the win by allowing two runs over six innings while striking out seven.
The Twins struck first in the bottom of the first inning. Hong Chang-ki drew a seven-pitch walk, followed by an infield single from Shin Min-jae. A wild pitch by Eagles starter Moon Dong-ju advanced the runners, and Hong scored on Kim Hyun-soo's grounder to second. Moon Bo-gyeong then doubled to left-center, bringing Shin home for a 2-0 lead.
Tolhurst escaped early threats and retired eight straight batters, including five strikeouts. In the fifth, Park Hae-min led off with a solo home run -- just his third of the regular season -- making it 3-0. Shin tripled two batters later and scored on Austin Dean's fielder's choice grounder to third, extending the lead to 4-0 after a throwing error by Roh Si-hwan.
The Eagles rallied in the top of the sixth, scoring twice on Luis Liberato's double, Roh Si-hwan's single, Chae Eun-seong's single and Ha Ju-suk's sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 4-2. But the Twins erupted for four runs in the bottom half against a shaky Eagles bullpen, loading the bases on walks and a hit batter before Shin's two-run single, Kim's RBI groundout and Moon's RBI hit pushed the score to 8-2.
Three Twins relievers each pitched a hitless inning to seal the victory. The Twins seek their second KBO title in three years after breaking a 29-year drought in 2023. The Eagles, last champions in 1999, are in their first Series since 2006. Game 2 is set for Monday at 6:30 p.m. at Jamsil, with Im Chan-kyu starting for the Twins (2-1, 1.59 ERA vs. Eagles) against Ryu Hyun-jin for the Eagles (1-0, 1.08 ERA vs. Twins).