The offense exploded for five runs in the opening frame and starter Adam Oller worked six solid innings, as the Kia Tigers defeated the LG Twins 6-3 for their second straight postseason victory.
After emerging victorious in a game played amid intermittent showers at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in the southwestern city of Gwangju, the Tigers are now a win away from taking this best-of-five series in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason.
The series will move to the Twins' home in Seoul, Jamsil Baseball Stadium, and will resume with Game 3 at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
If the Twins lose, it will be the final game played at Jamsil, a 44-year-old stadium set for demolition after this season.
Since this round was added to the postseason in 1989, only twice has a team rallied to take the series after dropping the first two games: the 2010 and 2013 Doosan Bears.
The Tigers torched Twins starter Im Chan-kyu for five runs on six hits in the bottom of the first inning, including three consecutive doubles in one stretch before a sellout crowd of 18,900.
After leadoff man Park Jung-woo struck out, seven straight Tigers reached -- tying the record for the first round.
Park Jae-hyun singled and stole second, before Kim Do-yeong drew a four-pitch walk. The onslaught then started with Harold Castro's RBI single.
Na Sung-bum, Kim Sun-bin and Han Jun-su each smoked doubles, as the Tigers' lead quickly grew to 5-0.
Ha Ju-suk then knocked Im out of the game with a single that put the runners at the corners.
Im, pitching a day after the death of his mother-in-law, ended up retiring just one batter.
Reliever Jon Kennedy came on to put out the fire, but the damage had already been done. Those six hits tied the first-round record for the most hits in an inning, while the Tigers' five runs equaled a postseason record for the most runs in any bottom of the first inning.
The Twins showed some life in the top third, when Park Dong-won hit a one-out double and scored his team's first run on a follow-up single by Gu Bon-hyeok.
Park Hae-min singled to keep the rally going, but with the dangerous Austin Dean at the plate for a chance to further narrow the gap, Park was picked off at first base by catcher Han Jun-su to end the inning after venturing too far off the bag.
Park atoned for his miscue with an RBI single in the top fifth that cut the deficit to 5-2, though the Twins could not get any closer that inning as Song Chan-eui popped out to end the rally with two men aboard.
After their first-inning outburst, the Tigers eked out just one single over the next five innings, but the Twins failed to crash through that opening.
The Tigers gave themselves some breathing room in the bottom seventh, when Na Sung-bum's sacrifice fly extended their lead to 6-2.
The Twins tried to make things more interesting in the eighth. Moon Jeong-bin's two-out single made it a 6-3 game, and another single brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Lee Jae-won.
Lee was inserted into the starting lineup for his power, though he had struck out in his first three at-bats in this game. The Tigers summoned closer Jeon Sang-hyun, and the right-hander got Lee to whiff on a 0-2 slider to end what turned out to be the Twins' final rally.
The Twins outhit the Tigers 9-8, but their 2-3-4-5 hitters went a combined 2-for-15 with four strikeouts. (Yonhap)