Twins beat Seoul rivals Bears to grab KBO wild card, reach next postseason round

Austin Dean smoked a two-run home run, and starter Carlos Carrasco tossed six innings of one-run ball as the LG Twins edged out the Doosan Bears 4-1 to grab the wild card in the Korean baseball postseason Wednesday. As the fourth seed in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) regular season, the Twins only needed a tie or a win to advance to the next round. The Bears, as the fifth seed, had to win two straight games to move on, and they wasted a strong outing by starter Gwak Been, who struck out 10 over six innings. Gwak's only blemish was Dean's dinger in the bottom of the first inning at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. The Bears eked out one run after loading the bases in the top of the seventh but stranded two runners in the eighth. The Twins tagged on two runs in the bottom of the eighth to secure the win and set up a date with the third-seed Kia Tigers in the next postseason series, a best-of-five affair, starting Saturday in the southwestern city of Gwangju. Carrasco scattered four hits and struck out three in his KBO postseason debut.