Lions shut down Twins to reach Korean Series
Samsung Lions starter Denyi Reyes celebrates after retiring the side in the bottom of the seventh inning of Game 4 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason against the LG Twins at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, Oct. 19. Yonhap
The Samsung Lions are off to the Korean Series for the first time in nine years.
The Lions defeated the defending champions LG Twins 1-0 at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, Saturday, taking their best-of-five Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason series in four games.
Veteran catcher Kang Min-ho broke a scoreless deadlock with a solo home run in the top of the eighth, after starter Denyi Reyes tossed seven shutout innings in front of a sellout crowd of 23,750.
The Lions, No. 2 seed, will go on to face the top-seeded Kia Tigers in the Korean Series, which begins at 6:30 p.m. Monday in Gwangju, some 270 kilometers south of Seoul.
The Lions reeled off four straight Korean Series titles from 2011 to 2014, before losing to the Doosan Bears in the championship round in 2015. This is only their second postseason appearance since then.
The Twins' elimination ensured that the KBO will crown a different champion for the eighth consecutive season. The 2015-2016 Bears are the last team to repeat as champions.
Reyes, who also won Game 1 of this series, last Sunday, was voted the MVP of the series. He allowed just one earned run over 13 2/3 innings for an ERA of 0.66. He received 42 out of 55 votes from media, with Kang finishing a distant second with seven votes.
The teams generated next to nothing against both starting pitchers, with Dietrich Enns for the Twins also on top of his game.
Enns no-hit the Lions through four innings, pitching around a couple of walks while striking out five. Only one ball left the infield against Enns in that span.
Kim Young-woong ended Enns' no-hit bid with a leadoff single in the top fifth. He was sacrificed over to second base, but the Lions couldn't bring him home, as Enns struck out the next two batters.
Reyes wasn't as dominant but was no less effective. He got No. 3 hitters Austin Dean to ground into a 6-4-3 double play to end the first inning, and escaped the second inning unscathed despite giving up two singles.
Reyes had help from his defense in that inning, with catcher Kang Min-ho throwing out Oh Ji-hwan trying to steal second, and first baseman Lewin Diaz making an over-the-shoulder basket catch in the foul territory to end the inning.
Kang Min-ho of the Samsung Lions celebrates after hitting a solo home run against the LG Twins during Game 4 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, Oct. 19. Yonhap
Reyes then retired the next 10 batters in a row, before Moon Sung-ju snapped that streak with a one-out single in the sixth.
Pinch runner Kim Dae-won promptly stole second, and Reyes hit Hong Chang-ki to put two runners on for the Twins.
After a mound visit, Reyes dug deep and induced a rally-killing, 4-6-3 double play ball off the bat of Shin Min-jae.
Reyes worked a scoreless seventh, and then the Lions finally broke the string of zeroes in the top of the eighth, with Enns now out of the game.
Facing reliever Son Ju-young, who was pitching on three days' rest after his Game 2 start, Kang Min-ho led off the eighth with a solo home run to left-center field.
It was Kang's third career postseason home run and capped a strong all-around game for the 39-year-old catcher, who threw out two would-be stealers.
The Lions failed to score after loading the bases with two outs in the top ninth, but it didn't matter as closer Kim Jae-yun retired the side in order in the bottom ninth on six pitches. The right-hander punctuated the Lions' series victory by striking out Dean on a 0-2 slider.
Kang will be playing in his first Korean Series at 39. He owns the record for the most regular-season games played without a Korean Series appearance with 2,369. (Yonhap)