Son Ju-young of the LG Twins celebrates after retiring the side in the bottom of the eighth inning against the KT Wiz during Game 3 of the first round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Yonhap

Back in a familiar scene against a familiar foe, LG Twins slugger Austin Dean delivered a familiar result Tuesday: a massive postseason home run for his Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) club.

Dean launched a go-ahead, three-run homer off starter Wes Benjamin in the top fifth to power the Twins past the KT Wiz 6-5 in Game 3 of the first round in the KBO postseason at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, just south of Seoul.

Both the Twins and the Wiz had seen this movie before.

On Nov. 10, 2023, in Game 3 of the Korean Series, Dean also smoked a three-run homer off Benjamin, as part of the Twins' 8-7 win. The Twins went on to take the series in five games. The Wiz were the only opponent that Dean had not homered against during the 2023 regular season, but the American slugger came through when it counted.

In the 2024 regular season, Dean went deep against every team but the Wiz. And he once again ended that personal drought against Benjamin.

The teams had traded jabs early, and the Wiz had built a 3-2 lead in the bottom third.

It all changed in the fateful fifth inning.

With two runners aboard, Dean turned on the first-pitch cutter from Benjamin and sent it 130 meters into the seats in left.

It was a no-doubter of a home run, with Dean defiantly tossing his bat aside and raising his arm in celebration long before the ball even reached the stands.

With the key homer, Dean backed an outstanding outing by Son Ju-young, a left-handed starter who worked in relief in his postseason debut.

After starter Choi Won-tae got the hook with two outs in the third, Son gave up a go-ahead single to the first batter he faced, Kim Sang-su.

But the inning ended on the play when Hwang Jae-gyu got caught in a rundown between second and third. The Wiz did not put a runner in scoring position again against Son.

In 5 1/3 shutout innings, Son struck out seven batters, six of them whiffing on his heavy fastball. He got two Ks in the fourth, another in the fifth and two more in the sixth.

He fanned dangerous pinch hitter Moon Sang-chul for the second out in the seventh and then punctuated his outing by striking out pinch hitter Oh Yoon-suk to end the eighth inning.

Son, who allowed only two singles, tossed 64 pitches, 38 for strikes. And 38 of those 64 were four-seam fastballs, with Son topping out at 149 kilometers per hour. (Yonhap)