Díaz pulls a 146-kph fastball; KIM Do-young drives a 152-kph heater the other way... Home-run showdown between Díaz and KIM Do-young in playoff Game 3

[Financial News] The highlight of fall baseball is, of course, the thrilling home run. Starting in Game 3 of the playoffs (PO), the teams’ star hitters went deep one after another, heating up Gwangju-Kia Champions Field.
In Game 3 of the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO postseason playoff, a best-of-five series, held at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field on the 29th, Samsung Lions’ Lewin Díaz and Kia Tigers’ KIM Do-young both homered in a display of offensive firepower.
The first to seize the initiative was Samsung’s cleanup hitter, Díaz. In the top of the 1st, with the score tied 0-0, two outs and the bases empty, the preceding batter, Koo Ja-wook, reached in dramatic fashion on a wild pitch after striking out. Díaz followed him to the plate and, against KIA starter Keisho Shirakawa, pulled a 146-kph fastball that caught the middle of the plate up high on the second pitch, with the count at 1-0, over the right-field wall for an opening two-run homer.
Díaz, who hit a game-sealing two-run homer in Game 2 in Daegu on the 27th, went deep for the second straight game, recording the eighth home run of his postseason career. In the 2025 season, Díaz became the first foreign hitter in KBO League history to reach 50 home runs (158 RBIs). This season, however, he hit just 26 homers despite appearing in every game, leaving some disappointment. But on the most important stage of the fall, he has been homering day after day and has regained the stature of the league’s premier slugger.

The home run was especially valuable because it allowed Koo Ja-wook, whose leg was still not fully recovered from a hamstring injury, to score comfortably without sprinting at full speed.
KIA, however, responded right away with a home run from its star hitter, KIM Do-young.
After striking out swinging in his first at-bat in the 1st, KIM Do-young came up for his second at-bat with the score tied 2-2, one out and the bases empty in the bottom of the 3rd. He went with a 152-kph fastball from Samsung left-handed reliever Bae Chan-seung and drove it the other way, sending a go-ahead solo homer soaring over the right-field wall. The drive traveled 115 meters.

KIM Do-young, who showcased his peak hitting form by racking up three home runs in just three games against the LG Twins in this year’s semi-playoff, broke his brief silence in Games 1 and 2 of the PO and sent another one on its way, recording the fifth home run of his postseason career.
The explosive power of the two sluggers, capable of changing the course of a short series in an instant, is pushing the excitement of playoff Game 3 to a fever pitch.
[email protected] Jeon Sang-il Reporter