"Home run on his 33rd birthday!" LG's Austin blasts a leadoff two-run homer off 169 km/h pitch against Kwak Bin in first at-bat... Erases autumn nightmare [WC1 On-site]

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LG Twins' Austin Dean (33) fired off a celebratory shot with a leadoff two-run homer on his birthday.

In his first at-bat in the bottom of the first inning of Game 1 of the Wild Card deciding series against the Doosan Bears in the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO Postseason (PS) held at Seoul Jamsil Baseball Stadium on the 14th, Austin launched a two-run homer over the left-field fence.

It started with an unusual vibe. Leadoff hitter Hong Chang-ki reached base on a hit by pitch in the bottom of the first inning, and Park Hae-min grounded out to first base, removing the runner ahead while taking first base himself. This actually turned out to be lucky.

Kwak Bin was so focused on checking Park Hae-min at first that he failed to properly watch Austin in the batter's box. Even with a favorable 2 balls and 1 strike count, Austin persistently worked the pitch, waiting for his opportunity, until a high curveball finally found the bat. The ball flew quickly at 169.2 km/h, traveling 119 meters to clear the left-field fence. A leadoff two-run homer that gave LG a 2-0 lead.

It happened to be Austin's 33rd birthday on this day. Austin played in all 144 games this season, slashing with a .331 batting average (180 hits in 543 at-bats), 41 home runs, 127 RBIs, and 114 runs scored, along with an on-base percentage of .427, slugging percentage of .635, and OPS of 1.062. With a .385 batting average in scoring position, he was a hitter who knew how to seize the momentum, and he was strong against Doosan with a .348 batting average (23 hits in 66 at-bats), 2 home runs, and 6 RBIs, as well as 3 hits in 9 at-bats (.333) and 1 home run against Kwak Bin.

Austin, who had a weak .200 career postseason batting average, heated up the Jamsil stadium with a massive homer that instantly dispelled those concerns.

LG lined up its batting order on this day as Hong Chang-ki (33, right fielder) - Park Hae-min (36, center fielder) - Austin Dean (33, designated hitter) - Moon Jung-bin (23, first baseman) - Moon Bo-kyung (26, third baseman) - Song Chan-ui (27, left fielder) - Koo Bon-hyuk (29, shortstop) - Park Dong-won (36, catcher) - Shin Min-jae (30, second baseman). The starting pitcher was Carlos Karasuko (39).

Facing them, Doosan set its starting batting order as Park Chan-ho (shortstop) - Ahn Jae-seok (third baseman) - Unio Severino (first baseman) - Yang Eui-ji (designated hitter) - Kim Min-seok (left fielder) - Kang Seung-ho (second baseman) - Jeong Soobin (center fielder) - Yoon Jun-ho (catcher) - Jo Su-haeng (right fielder). The starting pitcher was Kwak Bin.

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original