 SK Wyverns southpaw pitcher Kim Kwang-hyun, left, and Giants’ Shane Youman will face off each other today as starters at a decisive Game 5 of playoff second round at Munhak Stadium in Incheon. / Yonhap |
By Jung Min-hoThe SK Wyverns and Lotte Giants will have a final showdown for a spot in the final of the Korean Series. The winner of the game will face the Samsung Lions to see who is No. 1 in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO).
The Giants’ bid to win is now back to square one at 2-2 in the best-of-five series as the Wyverns beat them 2-1, Saturday. The Wyverns second baseman Jeong Keun-woo’s four hits and two runs in four at-bats crashed the Giants’ hopes for a victory in four games.
The Wyverns, which wrapped up the regular season with the least steals at 104, surprised the Giants with nine steals in the past four games, while the Busan-based team only had two. Given that three games out of four separated the winner and loser by only one run, Giants catcher Kang Min-ho’s role to stop the nimble-footed Wyvern players’ steal will be critical to reach the final. The last time the Giants played in the Korean Series was in 1999.
The two ace pitchers — SK’s Kim Kwang-hyun and Lotte’s Shane Youman who are both southpaws — will take the mound as starters at Munhak Stadium in Incheon.
In their first postseason encounter last Tuesday, Kim defeated his Giants’ rival striking out 10 and allowing five hits and one run in six innings, while Youman pitched for five and 1/3 innings giving up five hits and two runs. Wyverns first baseman Lee Ho-jun’s single homer in the second inning was bitter for the former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher, which led to his opponent’s 2-1 victory.
Before the playoff series, however, Youman had a better season than Kim with 13 wins, seven losses and a 2.55 ERA, whereas the Wyverns’ starter ended up with eight wins, five losses and 4.3 ERA.
When it comes to hitters, the Giants have an edge with players like Son A-seob, who had the third highest batting average with .314 in the regular season, and sixth-best home run producer Kang. The team’s overall offense ability was also better with .263 batting average, while the Wyverns had .257.
However, it was a homer that determined the first game’s winner, and the Wyverns’ hitters seem to be fully capable of producing more in the upcoming match, as the team’s 110 home runs, the highest among the eight teams, shows.
The fifth game is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Last year, the Wyverns, the KBO champions in 2007, 2008 and 2010, defeated the Giants 8-4 to reach the Korean Series for the fifth consecutive season.
