NC Dinos vs Samsung Lions

A two-run single from Choi Jeong-won in the third inning proved the difference as the NC Dinos held on to beat the Samsung Lions 3-2 at Changwon NC Park on Friday night. The win lifts NC to 47-52-2 (seventh place) and snaps a two-game losing streak, while Samsung drops to 63-43-2 (second place), now 1.0 games back of league-leading KT Wiz.

1st inning \u2014 NC 1-0. Kim Ju-won led off the home half with a double and advanced to third on Choi Jeong-won's sacrifice bunt. Park Min-woo grounded out to second base, bringing Kim home for what would prove to be the game-winning RBI.

3rd inning \u2014 NC 3-0. Chun Jae-hwan singled to right, then stole second. Kim Ju-won followed with a single and stole second himself, putting runners at second and third. Choi Jeong-won laced a single to centre field, scoring both runners.

6th inning \u2014 Samsung 2-3. Samsung's Lewin D\u00edaz crushed his 19th home run of the season \u2014 a two-run shot to right off NC starter Toda \u2014 to halve the deficit. The blast came after Choi Hyung-woo singled.

7th\u20139th innings. NC's bullpen shut the door. Bae Jae-hwan got two outs to finish the sixth, Lee Yong-jun worked a scoreless seventh despite issuing two walks, and Son Ju-hwan struck out two in a perfect eighth. Closer Jeon Sa-min needed only four pitches for a 1-2-3 ninth.

Winning pitcher: Toda (5\u2153 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 1 K, 91 pitches) Losing pitcher: Won Tae-in (7 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 2 K, 89 pitches) Save: Jeon Sa-min (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 pitches) Home runs: Lewin D\u00edaz (19) \u2014 2-run in the 6th Game-winning RBI: Park Min-woo (1st-inning groundout)

The third inning was decisive. With two outs after Kim Hwi-jip had struck out, NC strung together back-to-back singles followed by Choi Jeong-won's two-run base knock to centre. It gave Toda a three-run cushion, and although D\u00edaz halved the lead in the sixth, NC's bullpen threw 3\u2154 hitless innings behind him.

Choi Jeong-won (NC Dinos) \u2014 Player of the Match. The centre fielder went 3-for-3 with a sacrifice bunt, two RBI and a stolen base. Every one of his plate appearances produced a runner in scoring position.

Toda (NC Dinos). The NC starter did not have dominant stuff \u2014 one strikeout, three walks \u2014 but kept Samsung scoreless through five innings and limited damage to two runs in the sixth.

Won Tae-in (Samsung Lions). Samsung's ace took a tough-luck loss. He went seven innings on 89 pitches, allowing three runs on six hits. Two of the three runs scored with two outs in the third inning.

Lewin D\u00edaz (Samsung Lions). The first baseman went 2-for-3 with a walk and his 19th home run of the season, a two-run shot that briefly pulled Samsung within a run in the sixth.

Both teams registered seven hits, but the distribution told the story. NC scored three runs on seven hits while leaving only two men on base. Samsung also had seven hits and drew seven walks but stranded six runners and grounded into a double play. Samsung's Won Tae-in threw 89 pitches (75% strikes) over seven innings, while five NC pitchers combined for 139 pitches. Samsung's bullpen (Lim Ki-young) pitched one scoreless frame. NC committed the game's only error \u2014 Lee Yong-jun's fielding miscue in the seventh \u2014 but it did not lead to a run.

NC Dinos improve to 47-52-2 (seventh place), snapping a two-game slide after dropping consecutive home games to Doosan. Samsung falls to 63-43-2 (second place, 1.0 GB of KT Wiz), their three-game winning streak ended. The Lions now trail KT by a single game in the KBO standings race with roughly a month left in the regular season.

Next fixtures: The same two teams meet again Saturday 22 August at 19:00 KST at Changwon NC Park in the second game of this three-game weekend series. Samsung then travel to face LG Twins on Tuesday 25 August. NC host the Lions again Sunday before heading to Jamsil for a three-game set with LG starting 25 August.

A textbook small-ball win from NC: a double and a sacrifice bunt in the first, then station-to-station singles and aggressive baserunning in the third. Toda gave them enough length, and the bullpen was untouchable. For Samsung, Won Tae-in pitched well enough to win on most nights, but the offence could not convert seven walks and seven hits into more than two runs.