LG Twins starter Casey Kelly pitches against the KT Wiz during Game 1 of the Korean Series at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul on Tuesday. (Yonhap)
A win away from capturing their first Korean Series title in 29 years, the LG Twins will send their top starter, Casey Kelly, to the hill in the potential clinching game.
In a rematch of the opening contest of this best-of-seven series, the KT Wiz will counter with right-hander Ko Young-pyo on Monday as they try to stay alive.
The starting pitching matchup was announced Sunday, the eve of Game 5 of the Korea Baseball Organization championship round.
After dropping Game 1 last Tuesday, the Twins have reeled off three consecutive victories to get a stranglehold on the series with a 3-1 lead. Game 5 starts at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, the Twins' home.
As the top seed, the Twins enjoy the home field advantage. If they don't finish the job Monday, they will have two more cracks at Jamsil on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Kelly and Ko met in the series opener at Jamsil last Tuesday, and neither got a decision in the Wiz's 3-2 victory.
Kelly gave up two runs -- one unearned -- on four hits in 6 1/3 innings while striking out six. He threw forkballs for the first time this season.
Ko also allowed two runs, one of them unearned, on seven hits in six innings. After a shaky early going, Ko kept the Wiz in the game long enough for the lineup to rally in late innings for the narrow win.
The Twins' bats are humming along nicely, having launched eight home runs in their past three games. Their bullpen workhorses will be relatively fresh after getting little work in Saturday's 15-4 win and having Sunday off.
The Wiz, on the other hand, have few reliable options left in their reliefs corps. Son Dong-hyun and Park Yeong-hyun, excellent in the previous series, have both looked wobbly in the Korean Series. Closer Kim Jae-yoon has barely been used and when he did come on, he surrendered big home runs.
If the Wiz pull off a win Monday night, they will have their two foreign aces lined up for the next two games, William Cuevas and Wes Benjamin.
Only the 2013 Samsung Lions have been able to erase a 3-1 Korean Series deficit to win the championship. (Yonhap)
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