DAEJEON, South Korea (Interstat) — The Kia Tigers erupted for five runs in a chaotic eighth inning to overcome a late deficit and defeat the Hanwha Eagles 6-5 on Saturday afternoon at a sun-drenched Daejeon Hanbat Baseball Stadium, securing a crucial series victory before a crowd of 17,000.

The game’s defining moment, and its most important sequence, arrived in the top of the eighth inning with the Tigers trailing 3-1. What began as a modest rally against the Hanwha bullpen quickly escalated into a decisive, five-run outburst that saw Kia send 11 batters to the plate, collect six of their 12 total hits, and completely reverse the game’s momentum.

The inning started with Park Jae-hyun, pinch-hitting, reaching on an infield single. Jarryd Dale followed by slashing a single down the right-field line, moving Park to third. After Kim Ho-ryung walked to load the bases with no outs, Kim Sun-bin delivered a sharp single to center field, scoring Park and cutting the deficit to 3-2 while keeping the bases loaded.

Kim Do-yeong then lifted a sacrifice fly to left field, deep enough to score Dale and tie the game at 3-3. Following a strikeout, Na Sung-bum kept the inning alive with another single to right, reloading the bases. Catcher Han Jun-su, who had doubled and scored Kia’s first run in the fifth, then delivered the go-ahead blow, a clean single to center field that scored Kim Sun-bin. Na Sung-bum would come home on a subsequent single by Park Sang-jun, and Han Jun-su later scored on a wild pitch, capping the five-run rally and giving Kia a commanding 6-3 lead.

The late offensive explosion made a winner of the Kia bullpen and handed a loss to the Hanwha relief corps, which faltered after starter Jang Min-jee and middle relievers had largely contained the Tigers’ lineup for seven innings. The comeback also validated Kia’s status as a pregame betting favorite with a spread of -1.5, despite pregame projections from Interstat that gave Hanwha a 57.1% probability to win with a projected final score of 5-2.

For much of the afternoon, it appeared the Eagles would fulfill that projection. Hanwha struck first in the bottom of the first inning when cleanup hitter Moon Hyun-bin launched a solo home run to right field off Kia starter Yang Hyeon-jong. They added two more in the third on an RBI triple by Lee Won-seok and a sacrifice fly from Yonathan Perlaza, taking a 2-0 lead. They extended it to 3-0 in the fourth on an RBI single by Ha Ju-suk.

Kia, stifled by Jang, finally broke through in the fifth. Han Jun-su doubled down the left-field line and later scored on a two-out single by Park Jae-hyun, making it 3-1. That score held until the fateful eighth, as both teams traded zeroes and stranded runners.

The Eagles did not go quietly in the late innings. Facing the 6-3 deficit in the bottom of the eighth, they loaded the bases with one out but failed to score, as Roh Si-hwan popped out and Ha Ju-suk flied out to center. In the ninth, facing Kia closer Jeong Hae-young, Hanwha mounted a final, desperate charge. Moon Hyun-bin led off with a walk and scored on a one-out double by Chae Eun-seong. Roh Si-hwan then delivered a two-run single to left, suddenly pulling Hanwha within a run at 6-5. With the tying run on first and the winning run at the plate, Jeong bore down, inducing a game-ending 4-6-3 double play ground ball from pinch-hitter Choi Jae-hoon to seal the victory.

The win improved Kia’s season record to 5-7, while Hanwha fell to .500 at 6-6. It marked the Tigers’ second consecutive one-run victory over the Eagles, following a 6-5 win on Friday, and gave them the series ahead of Sunday’s finale. The combined total of 11 runs went over the posted over/under line of 10.5.

Key performers for Kia included Han Jun-su, who went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, an RBI, and two runs scored, and Kim Sun-bin, who was 2-for-5 with the critical RBI single in the eighth. Jarryd Dale added two hits and a run scored. For Hanwha, Moon Hyun-bin finished 2-for-3 with the home run, a walk, and two runs scored, while Lee Won-seok tripled and drove in a run.

The Tigers will go for the series sweep on Sunday afternoon in Daejeon before returning home to Gwangju to host the Kiwoom Heroes in a three-game set starting Tuesday. The Eagles, after Sunday’s game, will remain at home to prepare for a three-game series against the Samsung Lions beginning Tuesday.