GWANGJU — The LG Twins lost their opening game of the best-of-five semi-playoff series to the KIA Tigers, as the ace who led last year's Korean Series title run faltered, the lineup went quiet with runners on base and a costly fielding error compounded the damage.
LG fell 5-1 to KIA on the 17th at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Game 1 of the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO postseason semi-playoff series after taking an early lead.
Song Chan-eui's solo home run in the top of the second put LG ahead first, but the team did not score again. The pitching staff gave up three home runs, while the lineup managed no clutch hits with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.
LG starter Anders Tolhurst allowed three hits, including two home runs, one walk and three runs, two of them earned, over five innings. KIA starter James Naile, by contrast, held LG to one run over seven innings.
Tolhurst was central to LG's championship run last year against the Hanwha Eagles in the Korean Series. He pitched six innings with two runs allowed in Game 1 and seven innings with one run allowed in Game 5, facing 50 Hanwha batters without conceding a single home run.
This time, he could not contain the power of a KIA lineup that led the regular season in team home runs.
After Song's home run gave LG a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, Tolhurst immediately gave up a tying solo shot to Harold Castro in the bottom half of the inning. A cutter left over the plate turned into an extra-base hit.
In the bottom of the fourth, Kim Do-young took him deep for a go-ahead solo home run, driving a fastball that drifted over the middle of the plate with one out and nobody on.
With the score still separated by one run, LG's defense wavered in the bottom of the sixth. Left fielder Song Chan-eui dropped a fly ball off the bat of Park Jae-hyeon, and third baseman Moon Bo-gyeong failed to field a Kim Sun-bin infield grounder cleanly.
Woo Kang-hoon, who came on in relief, then allowed a sacrifice fly to right field by Kim Do-young with runners on first and third and no outs, widening the margin to 1-3.
The bullpen could not stop the bleeding either. With Son Ju-yeong unavailable because of a stiff neck, Jang Hyun-sik surrendered a two-run home run to Kim Do-young in the bottom of the eighth. Kim's two home runs on the day broke LG's will to mount a comeback.
LG's lineup struggled throughout. Apart from Song's solo home run, not a single batter drove a runner home.
In the top of the third, consecutive hits by Hong Chang-ki and Park Hae-min with two outs created a scoring chance, but Austin Dean flied out to shortstop.
The most frustrating sequence came in the top of the sixth. A double by Park Hae-min and an intentional walk to Austin put runners on first and second with no outs, leaving LG a single hit away from tying the game. Moon Jeong-bin struck out, and Moon Bo-gyeong grounded into a double play to end the threat.
Another opening came in the top of the eighth. Hits by Park Hae-min and Austin put runners on first and second with two outs, but Moon Jeong-bin swung at Jeon Sang-hyun's first pitch and flied out to center.
In the end, LG repeatedly put runners in scoring position without delivering a timely hit. While the starter and bullpen combined to allow three home runs, the offense failed to add runs, and the fielding error left the team unable to seize back momentum.
Having dropped the opener of the best-of-five series, LG will look to respond in Game 2, scheduled for 2 p.m. on the 19th at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field. Im Chan-kyu will start for LG and Adam Oller for KIA.