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| The Kia Tigers players celebrate their Korean Series title over the Doosan Bears with a 7-6 victory at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap |
By Baek Byung-yeul
The Kia Tigers became this year's champion of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League, Monday.
The Tigers, who sit with a 3-1 Korean Series lead, beat the Doosan Bears 7-6 in Game 5 to claim their 11th Korean Series championship. This is also the Gwangju-based team's first title win since 2009.
Meanwhile, the two-time defending champions Bears aimed to complete a three-peat but their batters had been notoriously unproductive in the series.
At Jamsil Baseball Stadium, the two teams started their ace pitchers as the Tigers started their Dominican ace Hector Noesi while the desperate Bears countered with Dustin Nippert.
However, the Tigers led the game early, scoring a whopping five runs including a grand slam in the top third.
Lee Myung-ki led off the inning with an infield single and advanced to second base with a sacrifice bunt. Then, Roger Bernadina hit a RBI single for a 1-0 lead.
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| Lee Bum-ho of the Kia Tigers celebrates his grand slam against the Doosan Bears in the top of the third inning in Game 5 of the Korean Series at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap |
With bases loaded and two outs, third baseman Lee Bum-ho smashed a grand slam home run off Nippert to make it 5-0. It was the fourth grand slam in the Korean Series history.
The Tigers added two more runs in the top of the sixth inning.
Kim Sun-bin brought second base runner Kim Min-sik home with a RBI single and the hit drove Nippert from the mound. The American was replaced by Ham Deok-ju. The left-handed reliever threw a wild pitch to allow Kim to advance to second and Lee Myung-ki hit a RBI single for a 7-0 lead.
The Tigers looked set to cruise to an easy win, but the Bears refused to back down as they rallied with six runs on six hits to cut the lead to 7-6.
To close the game, the Tigers' manager Kim Ki-tae made the bold move in the bottom ninth as he turned to southpaw starter Yang Hyeon-jong for a three-out save.
Yang, who completed game shutout in Game 2, walked the leadoff Kim Jae-hwan, but got Oh Jae-il to fly out to left fielder.
When Jo Soo-haeng laid down the bunt, the Tigers' third baseman Kim Ju-hyung made an errant throw, putting runners at second and third. Yang intentionally walked next batter Hur Kyoung-min.
After loading bases, Yang got Park Sei-hyeok to fly out to shortstop for second out and Kim Jae-ho popped out to catcher to end the game. Yang, who pitched 10 scoreless innings, was voted the Korean Series MVP.
The Tigers could directly advance to the Korean Series after winning the pennant on Oct. 3, the final day of the regular season.
In a 144-game season, the Tigers had recorded 87 wins, one draw and 56 losses, two games ahead of the second-place Bears for their first pennant since 2009.
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