Puig up to old tricks in lifting Heroes to Korean Series

▲ Yasiel Puig of the Kiwoom Heroes hits a solo home run against the LG Twins during the bottom of the third inning of Game 4 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Oct. 28, 2022. (Yonhap)

▲ Yasiel Puig of the Kiwoom Heroes high-fives a fan after hitting a solo home run against the LG Twins during the bottom of the third inning of Game 4 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Oct. 28, 2022. (Yonhap)

▲ Yasiel Puig of the Kiwoom Heroes hits an RBI single against the LG Twins during the bottom of the seventh inning of Game 4 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Oct. 28, 2022. (Yonhap)

▲ Kiwoom Heroes starter Tyler Eppler celebrates after striking out Moon Bo-gyeong of the LG Twins during the top of the sixth inning of Game 4 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Oct. 28, 2022. (Yonhap)

▲ Kiwoom Heroes starter Tyler Eppler pitches against the LG Twins during the top of the first inning of Game 4 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Oct. 28, 2022. (Yonhap)

▲ Kiwoom Heroes starter Tyler Eppler pitches against the LG Twins during the top of the sixth inning of Game 4 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Oct. 28, 2022. (Yonhap)

baseball postseason-players

Puig up to old tricks in lifting Heroes to Korean Series

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Oct. 28 (Yonhap) -- Four days after homering off LG Twins starter Casey Kelly in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason, Kiwoom Heroes slugger Yasiel Puig was at it again Friday night.

Puig blasted a solo home run off Kelly in the bottom third in Game 4 of the teams' postseason series, breaking a 1-1 tie. Puig later drove in an insurance run in the seventh, helping the Heroes to a 4-1 victory that sent them to the Korean Series, the KBO's championship round.

It was Puig's second home run of this best-of-five series, which the Heroes won 3-1. The Cuban slugger also had a home run in the Heroes' five-game victory over the KT Wiz in the previous round.

By rising to the occasion Friday with a ticket to the Korean Series within grasp, Puig showed why the Heroes signed him last offseason despite his considerable baggage.

Puig is quite used to playing high-stakes games in October, with 58 major league postseason games under his belt, including 12 in the World Series.

But Puig arrived in the KBO with a reputation as a cantankerous teammate and a head case. Though Puig didn't cause any trouble on his new team in the early going here, he didn't exactly set the league on fire at the plate.

It wasn't until after the All-Star break that Puig began to make some noise. In the second half, Puig ranked second in the KBO with an on-base plus slugging of .962 and 12 home runs.

And he has been able to build on that in the postseason. In four games against the Twins, Puig batted 6-for-13 with two home runs and five RBIs, both of them tops on his team.

Puig's timely hits backed a gutsy start by right-hander Tyler Eppler, who pitched on three days' rest.

Eppler pitched just three innings in Game 1 on Monday and gave up four runs, though only one of them was earned, because his teammates made three errors behind him.

That Eppler only threw 47 pitches then apparently helped Friday. He looked none the worse for wear, consistently wiggling his way out of jams after giving up the first run on three straight singles in the top of the first.

All told, Eppler scattered seven hits across six frames. He struck out only two but didn't walk anyone.

After a one-out single, Eppler got an inning-ending double play ball against Kim Hyun-soo, who had been the Twins' best hitter in this series. Two singles in the fourth inning amounted to nothing for the Twins, and Eppler pitched around a two-out double in the fifth.

He punctuated his outing by retiring the side in the sixth and struck out the last batter he faced, Moon Bo-gyeong, with a 1-2 changeup.

The usually stoic pitcher let out a scream, and the rest of the Heroes had plenty to get excited about on this night.

(END)

(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved