Eagles manager to lean on 2 American starters in KBO postseason elimination game
Hanwha Eagles starter Jeong Woo-joo pitches against the Samsung Lions during Game 4 of the second-round series in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, Wednesday. Yonhap
Hanwha Eagles manager Kim Kyung-moon laid out a bold pitching plan for his team's winner-take-all game in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason Friday night, saying he will use his two American starters to cover nine innings.
Cody Ponce is scheduled to start Game 5 of the best-of-five series against the Samsung Lions at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in the central city of Daejeon, with the winner of the contest advancing to the Korean Series.
Though Kim previously said he would go all-hands-on-deck for this game, the veteran skipper said in his pregame media session that another starter, Ryan Weiss, will pitch after Ponce — provided that Ponce, ideally for the Eagles, can go at least five innings.
"We will try to finish this game with our two foreign-born pitchers," Kim said. "They are our two aces and will be going on four days and five days of rest."
Ponce won the Triple Crown as the regular-season leader in wins, ERA and strikeouts but gave up six runs in six innings in Game 1 against the Lions last Saturday, though the Eagles won the game 9-8. Weiss, also among the league leaders in those three categories, allowed five runs in four innings the following day, as the Eagles lost 7-3.
If things go according to Kim's plan and the two right-handers can get 27 outs, it will rule out the Eagles' struggling closer Kim Seo-hyeon, who has surrendered two home runs in two appearances so far, including a game-tying three-run bomb to Kim Young-woong in Game 4 that the Eagles went on to lose 7-4.
In the aftermath of the Game 4 loss, manager Kim had declared he would turn to Kim Seo-hyeon in a save situation in Game 5. He walked it back Friday.
"We need him to step up to accomplish our goal (of winning a championship). And it will be difficult to do that without him," the manager said. "For now, the plan for today's game is to use only our two American starters. Kim Seo-hyeon will be our closer in the next opportunity we have."
The skipper also urged fans and media to ease up on the 21-year-old pitcher, while defending his choice to keep using him in big spots.
"How can we not use a pitcher who throws that hard?" manager Kim said of the pitcher who routinely throws fastballs over 150 kilometers per hour. "Even in Major League Baseball, good closer give up big home runs. I just think it's unfortunate that people are being so hard on this player based on results alone."
The manager added Moon Dong-joo, a starter-turned-reliever who has been lights out this series, will not be available Friday because of his heavy workload.
"He threw over 50 pitches just three days ago," Kim said. "He will play baseball beyond this season, too."