▲ Kang Seung-ho celebrates his walk-off hit that sent Doosan to the postseason. (Photo: Doosan Bears, Yonhap News)
The Doosan Bears have advanced to the postseason for the first time in two years.
Doosan secured a dramatic 6-5 comeback victory over the NC Dinos by scoring three runs in the bottom of the 9th inning during their 2026 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League matchup at Jamsil Stadium today (September 30).
With this win, the fifth-placed Doosan improved to 69 wins, 63 losses, and 5 draws with a .523 winning percentage. They widened their gap against the sixth-placed NC Dinos (62 wins, 72 losses, 2 draws, .463) to 8 games, securing at least fifth place and a postseason spot regardless of the remaining games.
Doosan's victory also eliminated the seventh-placed Lotte Giants from postseason contention for the ninth consecutive year.
Doosan had been trailing 5-3 heading into the top of the 9th inning, looking headed for defeat.
However, in the bottom of the 9th with one out and the bases loaded, Kim Min-seok hit a ground-rule double to right field, tying the game at 5-5.
With one out and runners on second and third following that, Kang Seung-ho drove home the winning run with an infield hit, completing a dramatic turnaround.
In Gwangju, the league-leading KT Wiz defeated the KIA Tigers 3-2, reducing their magic number to clinch a direct berth to the Korean Series to 6.
For KIA, Kim Do-young opened the bottom of the 6th with a double to right-center, after which Harold Castro smashed a two-run homer into the outfield stands to take a 2-0 lead.
However, KT tied the game in the top of the 7th when Hilliard hit a two-run home run over the right-center field fence.
Hilliard, who has smashed 10 home runs in September alone, reached his 40th of the season, closing in on the category leader Kim Do-young (41 home runs) by just one.
Hilliard also reached 126 RBIs on the season, pulling ahead of second-place Austin Dean (122 RBIs, LG Twins) by 6.
The tight balance was finally broken in the 9th inning.
Leading off the 9th for KT, Kwon Dong-jin launched a solo home run to right-center off KIA relief pitcher Jeon Sang-hyun, securing the precious game-winning run.
In Daegu, the Samsung Lions defeated the Hanwha Eagles 6-2, backed by Ariel Jurado's stellar pitching and home runs from Lee Jae-hyun and Choi Hyeong-u.
Samsung opened the scoring in the bottom of the 1st with an RBI single by Lewin Diaz, and Lee Jae-hyun added a two-run homer in the bottom of the 2nd to make it 3-0.
Hanwha narrowed the gap to one run in the top of the 3rd when Shim Woo-jun hit a two-run blast to left.
However, Samsung secured momentum in the bottom of the 5th when veteran Choi Hyeong-u hit a three-run homer to right-center, extending the lead to 6-2.
Claiming their fourth consecutive victory, the second-place Samsung Lions narrowed the gap with league leader KT to 3 games.
In Incheon, the SSG Landers overturned a 3-0 deficit against the LG Twins with a thrilling 4-3 comeback victory in the bottom of the 9th.
LG took a 2-0 lead in the top of the 6th with one out and runners on first and second, following Oh Ji-hwan's single to right and a subsequent groundout.
Ku Bon-hyuk added another run in the top of the 7th with an RBI single up the middle.
Down 3-0, SSG started their comeback in the bottom of the 9th with one out and the bases loaded when Cho Hyung-woo hit an RBI single to left, narrowing the score to 3-2.
After tying the game 3-3 on a wild pitch by LG closer Son Ju-young, SSG completed the comeback with two outs and runners on first and second when Jeong Jun-jae hit an RBI single to left.
The third-placed LG Twins fell into a four-game losing streak.
In Busan, the Lotte Giants defeated the Kiwoom Heroes 8-6.
Lotte scored first in the bottom of the 2nd on Son Seong-bin's infield hit, and added two runs in the 3rd via Victor Reyes's RBI single and Ko Seung-min's double.
They added two more runs in the 4th to pull ahead 5-0.
Kiwoom clawed back two runs in the top of the 5th when Matt Davidson hit a two-run home run.
However, Lotte added a run in the bottom of the 7th on Ko Seung-min's double and secured the win with two more runs in the bottom of the 8th.
Victor Reyes and Ko Seung-min each recorded three hits and three RBIs.
(Photo: Provided by Doosan Bears, Yonhap News)
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