Twins blank Eagles behind starter's gem

SEOUL, April 22 (Yonhap) -- Starter Lachlan Wells fired eight innings of one-hit ball and Song Chan-eui blasted a two-run home run in just his third game of the season, as the LG Twins blanked the Hanwha Eagles 3-0 on Wednesday in a rematch of last year's Korean Series.

Wells struck out his season-high seven batters in front of a sellout crowd of 23,750 at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. The Australian left-hander improved to 2-1 for the season, lowering his ERA from 2.12 to 1.44.

With their third consecutive victory, the Twins improved to 14-6-0 (wins-losses-ties), while the Eagles, having lost two straight, fell to 8-12-0.

Song fired the opening salvo for the Twins in the bottom second with his two-run blast off starter Wang Yan-Cheng.

The Twins had run up the pitch count against Wang earlier that inning, with Oh Ji-hwan drawing a seven-pitch walk and Park Dong-won striking out on seven pitches. Song then ambushed the Taiwanese left-hander on a first-pitch fastball, sending it into left field seats for his first dinger of 2026.

After the Twins stranded two runners in the bottom third, the Eagles threatened in the top fourth against Wells, with a single and a walk giving them their first two base runners of the game.

But cleanup Kang Baek-ho hit a weak flyout to left, and with Chae Eun-seong at the plate, Moon Hyun-bin was picked off at first base by catcher Park Dong-won to end the rally.

The Twins were also undone by baserunning gaffes in the bottom fourth.

With Oh Ji-hwan at first after a leadoff walk, Park Dong-won slapped a single up the middle. Oh made an aggressive turn at second and was initially called safe on a slide into third. Park, trying to take an extra base on the play, was tagged out at second.

The Eagles challenged the call at third, while the Twins asked for a review at second -- a rare occasion when two separate plays went to the replay center simultaneously -- and both ended in the Eagles' favor, with Oh ruled out and the out call on Park confirmed.

The Twins did get the third run in the bottom fifth, courtesy of a misplay by Moon Hyun-bin in left field.

With two outs and Song at second, Moon Sung-ju lifted a seemingly harmless fly to left. But Moon Hyun-bin, who was playing shallow, appeared to lose track of the ball. He only got a piece of it as he backtracked before dropping the ball, allowing Song to score to make it a 3-0 game.

That was more than enough run support for Wells, who was efficient over his eight shutout innings.

After the Eagles threat in the fourth, Wells didn't allow a runner over the next four innings. Though Wells sat at just 84 pitches through eight, the Twins summoned closer You Young-chan for the ninth, and the right-hander pitched a clean ninth for his league-leading 11th save.

jeeho@yna.co.kr(END)