SUWON, South Korea, Nov. 4 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Lions star Lewin Diaz dominated his team's Korean Series victory Wednesday night in every imaginable way.
Diaz went 4-for-6 and fell a home run short of a cycle, and scored the winning run in the top of the 12th inning in the Lions' 3-2 win over the KT Wiz in Game 2 of the Korean Series. The victory at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, just south of Seoul, evened up the best-of-seven series at 1-1.
Lewin Diaz of the Samsung Lions celebrates after hitting an RBI triple against the KT Wiz during Game 2 of the Korean Series at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on Nov. 4, 2026. (Yonhap)
Lewin Diaz of the Samsung Lions celebrates after hitting an RBI triple against the KT Wiz during Game 2 of the Korean Series at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on Nov. 4, 2026. (Yonhap)
Diaz delivered a go-ahead single in the top 10th but then made an error at first base in the bottom half of that inning, which eventually led to a tying run by the Wiz. He bobbled the ball while trying to take it out of his glove for a throw to second base, and it kept the inning going for the Wiz, who got the tying run on a bases-loaded walk.
Diaz atoned for that mistake in the top 12th.
With a runner at first, Diaz hit a grounder to second but hustled down the line to beat out a relay throw to foil a double play attempt. He moved to second on a follow-up single. And when Wiz second baseman Oh Yoon-suk bounced a relay throw to first in an attempt to turn a double play, Diaz alertly scored from second to put the Lions up 3-2.
Samsung Lions manager Park Jin-man (L) smiles as his player Lewin Diaz takes a bow after a 3-2 win over the KT Wiz in Game 2 of the Korean Series at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on Nov. 4, 2026. (Yonhap)
Samsung Lions manager Park Jin-man (L) smiles as his player Lewin Diaz takes a bow after a 3-2 win over the KT Wiz in Game 2 of the Korean Series at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on Nov. 4, 2026. (Yonhap)
Diaz drove in the Lions' first run with a triple to right field in the top second. He doubled in his next at-bat in the fourth and singled in the sixth inning.
A home run would have given him the first cycle in Korea Baseball Organization postseason history, but it was his single in the 10th and heads-up baserunning in the 12th that ultimately made the difference.
"I am just happy we won this game. Personally, I had some moments that didn't allow me to have a good finish, but at least we won the game," Diaz said. "I think I hit the first triple of my career today. I just tried to run as hard as I can and tried to help the team in any way possible. It was worth the risk for me to take third base on that play."
Diaz said his teammates kept reminding him he needed to hit a home run to complete the cycle but he consciously tried to keep that thought out of his mind.
"I felt that if I started thinking about it, I would start going after bad pitches and getting greedy," Diaz said. "We were in a tight game and I tried to put the ball in play and get on base. Sometimes, you need a home run in a game like this. But I felt putting men on base was more important than hitting the ball out."
Diaz said he took a bow in front of his manager Park Jin-man to apologize for the error.
"Before that error, I thought I was having an almost perfect game," Diaz said. "But by making that error at such a critical juncture, I put the team on the brink of a loss. I felt terrible about that. I hope no one else feels the kind of emotion I felt in late innings of this game. Fortunately, we came away with this win and I wanted to go and apologize to the manager there."
Lewin Diaz of the Samsung Lions hits an RBI single against the KT Wiz during Game 2 of the Korean Series at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on Nov. 4, 2026. (Yonhap)
Lewin Diaz of the Samsung Lions hits an RBI single against the KT Wiz during Game 2 of the Korean Series at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on Nov. 4, 2026. (Yonhap)