Lions rout Wyverns, take 2-0 lead

By Kang Seung-woo

The Samsung Lions took the SK Wyverns 8-3 Thursday in Game 2 of the Korean Series held in Daegu.

Designated hitter Choi Hyoung-woo hit a grand slam off Puerto Rican starter Mario Santiago and Jang Won-sam threw a one-run six innings with seven strikeouts for the defending champions to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

The teams will move to Incheon for Games 3 and 4 on Saturday and Sunday.

By sweeping their home series, the Lions took a big step toward a repeat, as championship series history shows that a team with a 2-0 advantage has been victorious 14 times out of 15.

“It is great to win two games in a row at home. Jang provided a great pitching performance, while Choi’s grand slam and Bae Young-seop’s two-run double helped the team win the game easily,” Lions manager Ryu Joong-il said.

“Players had a better game than yesterday and I expect them to get better in Game 3.”

The Daegu-based club had a six-run third inning to defeat the Wyverns.

Cho Dong-chan led off the inning with a single, Jin Kab-yong followed with another and Kim Sang-su laid down a sacrifice bunt that put two runners in scoring position before the left fielder Bae doubled home the runners for a 2-0 lead.

With one out later, the right-hander Santiago walked Lee Seung-yeop and Park Sok-min to load the bases and Choi, who was hitless in his first five at-bats in the series, capped a six-run third inning with a grand slam to seal the game early.

In the seventh, Bae hit an RBI double and Park Sok-min added the final run of the game.

The Wyverns, which lost 4-1 in last year’s Korean Series, had a chance to get on the scoreboard first in the top of the first inning when they loaded the bases with two outs, but the playoffs’ second-round MVP Park Jung-kwon’s flyout wasted the chance.

Leadoff hitter Jung Keun-woo hit a solo shot in the sixth and added two runs in the eighth on a wild pitch and a groundout, but they were not enough to turn the game around.