Castro's 3 RBIs Give KIA a 5-1 Win Over Samsung in Playoff Game 1 in Daegu
The KIA Tigers beat Samsung 5-1 in Game 1 of the KBO playoff at Daegu Samsung Lions Park on Oct. 26. Harold Castro went 3-for-4 with 3 RBIs and took game MVP, and Game 2 is tonight (Oct. 27) at 6:30 p.m. at the same park.
Castro did a bit of everything in the first inning
He opened the scoring with a first-inning RBI single to right, then in the bottom half fielded a hard grounder and started a 3-6-3 double play. In the third, with two out and a runner on first, he hit a two-run homer off Samsung starter Chris Flexen to make it 4-0.
Han Jun-su added a solo shot in the fourth for 5-0.
Nail is ejected, the bullpen holds
KIA starter James Nail gave up one hit over 4⅓ innings before he hit Park Seung-gyu's helmet in the bottom of the fifth and was ejected. The bullpen kept the lead.
Flexen allowed 5 runs in 4⅔ innings for Samsung, and the lineup managed only 2 hits.
Game 1 winners advance 77.1% of the time
In best-of-five playoffs, the Game 1 winner has reached the Korean Series in 27 of 35 cases, or 77.1%. KIA is on the right side of that number for now.
Game 2: tonight at 6:30
Game 2 is Oct. 27 at 6:30 p.m. at Daegu Samsung Lions Park. Adam Oller starts for KIA and Ariel Hurado for Samsung.
Sources & context
2026-10-27T00:18:47.590Z
SBS on KIA's playoff Game 1 win (Oct. 26) ↗Herald Business on Castro's two-way game (Oct. 26) ↗Wikimedia Commons, Daegu Samsung Lions Park ↗Photo credit
Choi2451 (Wikimedia Commons) · CC BY-SA 3.0A night game at Daegu Samsung Lions Park (taken April 2019; not a photo of this game). Photo by Choi2451, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
A Go board mid-game (taken Oct. 2021; not a photo of this game). Photo by Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons