Kim Do-young’s one-man show with 4 RBIs, including 2 home runs… KIA captured 71% of PO market entry

(Jeonnam Gwangju = Yonhap News) Reporter Jang Hyun-gu = KIA Tigers won 8 consecutive games against LG Twins, including the regular league, and took an advantageous position in advancing to the playoffs (PO, 3 wins out of 5).

KIA won 5-1 in the first game of the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO postseason semi-playoffs (semi-PO, 3 wins out of 5) that started at Kia Champions Field in Gwangju, Jeollanam-do on the 17th, thanks to the one-man show of superstar Kim Do-young, who hit 2 home runs and swept 4 RBIs.

In the past 17 semi-PO games, which were played with 3 wins out of 5 until last year, the probability that the team that won the first game advanced to the playoffs (PO, 3 wins out of 5) was 70.6% (12 times).

KIA and LG will play the second semi-PO match at the same location at 2 p.m. on the 18th.

In the second inning, LG Song Chan-eui pulled KIA starter James Nail's sweeper properly and fired the go-ahead solo shot over the left wall, and after a change of offense and defense, KIA Harold Castro scooped up LG Anders Tolhurst's cut fastball and responded with a solo arch that tied the game.

The balance was broken by superstar Kim Do-young.

Kim Do-young, in his second at-bat with one out and no runners on base in the fourth inning, walked up Tolhurst's first pitch before his cheering song could be played.

The batted ball flew high into the sky and became a solo home run, flying 124 meters and landing on the left stand.

In the top of the 6th inning, when the game was tied 1-2, LG had a golden opportunity to turn things around with leadoff pitcher Park Hae-min's double to right-center and Austin Dean's automatic intentional walk with no outs on first and second base.

However, Moon Jeong-bin struck out, and Moon Bo-kyung hit the ground with a double play between the second baseman, shortstop, and first baseman.

KIA immediately took advantage of LG's two decisive errors in the bottom of the sixth inning and ran away.

The problem was that LG left fielder Song Chan-eui missed an ordinary fly ball from leader Park Jae-hyun.

Kim Sun-bin's ground ball to third base was not properly caught by LG third baseman Moon Bo-kyung, so it hit the glove and bounced into the outfield, allowing KIA to advance to first and third base without an out.

Kim Do-young pushed the ball away from LG's second pitcher Woo Kang-hoon and hit a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1.

Kim Do-young's bat exploded in the 8th inning.

With two outs and a runner on first base, he hit LG relief pitcher Jang Hyun-sik's forkball and hit a two-run home run that went over the center fence.

It was the culmination of Kim Do-young's monodrama, which included a come-from-behind final solo home run, a sacrifice fly RBI, and a wedge two-run arch.

Nail, who served as the mainstay of KIA's starting lineup in the second half of the season, struck out 6 batters in 7 innings, allowing only 4 hits and 1 run to LG's batting lineup, and reaped the victory. It was their second postseason win in two years since Game 4 of the 2024 Korean Series.

LG had to accept defeat in the top of the 8th inning when Moon Jung-bin's batted ball, which targeted KIA Jeon Sang-hyun's first pitch at the last chance with two outs and runners on first and second base, was caught by the center fielder on the warning track.

Including the sold-out first game of the semi-PO (18,900 people), the KBO postseason has continued to sell out 39 consecutive games since the first game of the 2023 Korean Series.