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Ex-minor leaguer pitches Twins to Korean Series title

Published: 01 Nov. 2025, 14:14

LG Twins starter Anders Tolhurst celebrates after striking out Choi Jae-hoon of the Hanwha Eagles during Game 5 of the Korean Series at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in the central city of Daejeon on Oct. 31, 2025. [YONHAP]

Anders Tolhurst began the 2025 season in April with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the Double-A affiliate for the Toronto Blue Jays. He ended it Friday as the winning pitcher in the final game of the KBO campaign, as the right-hander helped the LG Twins capture the Korean Series championship.

Tolhurst threw seven innings of one-run ball in the Twins' 4-1 win over the Hanwha Eagles in Game 5 of the KBO championship series at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in the central city of Daejeon.

"I didn't have this one on the bingo card, but it's an amazing feeling just being able to come over here and showcase my talent and play with these guys," Tolhurst said. "We've got an amazing team. And it was definitely one of the best seasons I've ever played, and I'll remember this forever."

Tolhurst, who moved up to Triple-A later in April, signed with the Twins in August as a replacement for Elieser Hernandez. In eight regular-season starts, Tolhurst went 6-2 with a 2.86 ERA and allowed just one earned run in his first 25 innings across four starts in his first month here.

Though he was knocked around a bit in September, Tolhurst returned to his steady, if not dominant, self in the Korean Series.

In his Game 1 start, Tolhurst scattered seven hits across six innings and allowed two earned runs. He struck out seven and walked none as he was named the Player of the Game in an 8-2 victory.

With the Twins holding a 3-1 series lead, Tolhurst toed the rubber again in Game 5 on Friday. He looked a little wobbly in the second inning, when he loaded the bases with a single, a double and a walk. But Tolhurst minimized damage by giving up just one run via a groundout by Lee Won-suk.

The pitcher gave up a single and a walk to the first two batters of the third inning, but induced a double play ball off the bat of Moon Hyun-bin and then struck out Roh Si-hwan swinging on a forkball.

From there, Tolhurst was virtually unhittable.

He got two groundouts and a flyout on nine pitches in the fourth, and threw just eight more pitches in the three-up, three-down fifth. Tolhurst had another nine-pitch inning in the sixth, getting a flyout followed by two groundouts.

Chae Eun-seong opened the seventh with a single but was erased on a double play by Ha Ju-suk. Tolhurst then struck out Choi Jae-hoon with a fastball, his 97th pitch of the night.

The usually reserved pitcher pumped his fist and let out a scream on his way back to the dugout, knowing he had more than done his part to give his team a chance to win the title.

Tolhurst offered 46 fastballs, 21 cutters, 15 curveballs, 14 forkballs and one slider.

Relievers Kim Jin-sung and You Young-chan each worked a scoreless inning to finish the deal.

Twins manager Youm Kyoung-youb quipped that he went down on his knees after the sixth inning and pleaded with Tolhurst to give him another inning. Tolhurst obliged.

"I told him that I was going to give him everything I had today," the pitcher said. "And I left everything on the field, and emptied the tank there in the seventh and gave it everything I had. I think the biggest thing was just being able to keep the team in the game, and that was a huge seventh inning just to be able to get out of that. They were super proud of me, and just being able to finish that was huge."

Yonhap