KIA sweeps games 1 and 2 of the Korean Series
Come-from-behind victory in suspended game 1… Yang Hyun-jong pitched well in the second game, winning for the first time in 7 years
Kim Do-young’s first KS home run in his career… KIA, 2 wins remaining until 12th championship
As the first game of the professional baseball Korean Series (4 wins out of 7 games) that started on the 21st was suspended due to rain, KIA coach Beom-ho Lee was deeply troubled. The game was scheduled to resume with Kim Young-woong (Samsung) at bat on first and second base with no outs in the top of the sixth inning, when KIA was down 0-1. KIA had to somehow prevent this situation by conceding as few goals as possible. The task was which pitcher to put on the mound in this game that could determine not only the first game but also the direction of the entire series.
Coach Lee’s worries deepened as the game, which was scheduled to resume on the 22nd, was postponed another day due to ground conditions. The result of 3 days and 2 nights of deliberation was revealed at 4 PM on the 23rd. Manager Lee’s choice was right-handed reliever Jeon Sang-hyun. Jeon Sang-hyun, who played as a closer and set-up man during the regular season and recorded 10 wins, 5 losses, 7 saves, and 19 holds, lived up to coach Lee’s expectations 100%.
Kim Young-woong attempted a bunt right at Jeon Sang-hyun’s first pitch. At that time, KIA catcher Kim Tae-gun caught the ball that fell right in front of him and caught the second base runner at third base. Jeon Sang-hyun, who struck out the next batter, Park Byeong-ho, gave up a walk to Yoon Jeong-bin and had the bases loaded with two outs, but ended the inning by getting Lee Jae-hyun out with a grounder in front of the pitcher.
KIA, who overcame the crisis with no runs, turned the game around in the bottom of the 7th inning. Kim Sun-bin’s walk and Choi Won-jun’s right-handed hit gave Tae-goon Kim a chance to put 1st and 2nd bases without an out, but Tae-goon Kim succeeded in sending out a bunt, putting the runners on 2nd and 3rd bases with one out. At this time, Samsung veteran relief pitcher Lim Chang-min’s two consecutive wild pitches gave KIA a 2-1 lead. KIA did not miss this opportunity and scored two more points with consecutive timely hits from Socrates and Kim Do-young.
KIA won 5-1 with three pitchers, including Do-gyu Kwak and Hae-young Jeong, who took the mound following Jeon Sang-hyun, allowing no hits and no runs in four innings. Jeon Sang-hyun was selected as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the first game.
KIA, riding on momentum, took down the Samsung Mound from the first inning in the second game, which started at 6:30 p.m., about an hour after the end of the first game, and won an 8-3 victory.
KIA scored 5 runs in the first inning by concentrating 5 hits and 1 walk against Samsung starting pitcher Hwang Dong-jae. In the second inning, Kim Do-young, the star of 38 home runs and 40 stolen bases in the regular season, hit his first home run (1 run) in the Korean Series, crossing the right fence against Samsung’s second pitcher Seung-min Lee.
KIA starting pitcher Yang Hyun-jong became the winning pitcher of the game with a good pitching in 5 1/3 innings, allowing 8 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts, and 2 runs (1 earned), and was also selected as the MVP of the second game. Yang Hyun-jong’s victory in the Korean Series is the second in seven years, following a shutout win in the second game against Doosan in 2017.
KIA, who swept the first and second games held at home, gained an even greater advantage in winning the Korean Series for the 12th time in total. There were 20 cases in which a team won both games 1 and 2 in the Korean Series, and 18 of them (90%) came out on top. 9 out of 18 wins were wins in 4 games.
Coach Lee said, “I didn’t think I would be able to win both games in one day, but I think I played more comfortably in the second game because I was able to win the first game because Jeon Sang-hyun gave me a break in a critical situation.” Samsung coach Park Jin-man said, “It would be a lie if we said that the loss in the first game did not have an impact on the second game. “(In the bottom of the 7th inning of Game 1), we had 2 outs and gave up (the score) with a wild pitch, so the atmosphere was taken away from us,” he said. “The goal was to get 1 win and 1 loss, but it’s disappointing that we lost both games.”
The third game between the two teams will be held in Daegu, Samsung’s home stadium, at 6:30 pm on the 25th. KIA’s Lauer and Samsung’s Reyes are scheduled to start.
Gwangju = Reporter Lee Heon-jae [email protected]
Gwangju = Reporter Kang Hong-gu [email protected]
-
- great
- 0dog
-
- I’m sad
- 0dog
-
- I’m angry
- 0dog
-
- I recommend it
- dog