Wyverns knock off Lions in Game 3

SK Wyverns outfielder Kim Kang-min shouts after hitting a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning of Game 3 of the Korean Series against the Samsung Lions in Incheon, Sunday. / Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo

The SK Wyverns rallied Sunday to defeat the Samsung Lions 12-8 en route to their first victory of the Korean Series.

In Game 3 in Incheon, the home team, held to five hits apiece in the first two games, banged out 17 hits including three home runs and made the best-of-seven series 2-1.

The Wyverns, which have reached the championship series for a record sixth-straight time, kept their hopes alive for a fourth league title, albeit slim.

Only one team has come back from a 2-0 deficit to win the championship. The Wyverns lost the first two against the Doosan Bears in 2007 and then went on to win the next four to win their first championship.

Game 4 will take place on Monday at the same place with the Wyverns starting lefty Kim Kwang-hyun against the Lions’ American hurler Mitch Talbot.

The Wyverns got off to a fast start when Jung Keun-woo led off the game with a double and reached third on Park Jae-sang’s sacrifice fly before Choi Jeong brought him home with a single to left field.

Lee Man-soo’s side continued their scoring in the first inning as Choi advanced to third thanks to a throwing error by Lions starter Bae Young-soo on a pick-off attempt, but Park Jung-kwon struck out swinging to end the inning. In addition, the Wyverns failed to extend the lead in the second, stranding runners on first and second with one out.

After the first two uneventful innings, the Lions, which roughed up Puerto Rican starter Mario Santiago in the third inning of Game 2, scoring six runs, exploded again in the third to match Thursday’s number.

With the bases loaded, Chei Byung-yong, who relieved American starting pitcher Dave Bush, walked Jung Hyung-sik for the Lions to tie the game and Lee Seung-yeop had a two-run single off the veteran right hander to put the Lions ahead 3-1.

One out later, Choi Hyoung-woo, who connected off Santiago for a grand slam ― the third ever recorded in Korean Series history ― the right-field seats to make it 6-1.

However, the Wyverns struck back immediately in the bottom of the third as Park hit off Bae for a run-scoring double and Kim Kang-min also had an RBI single to cut the deficit to 6-3 and moved to within one run in the next inning on former Lion Park Jin-man’s solo shot and reliever Sim Chang-min’s wild pitch.

The Lions went back up by two in the fifth thanks to an RBI double by Cho Dong-chan, but then came undone in the disastrous sixth, when the Wyverns regained the lead.

Park, who opened the inning with a double, came home on a Jung’s single up the middle and took a one-run lead on Lions shortstop Kim Sang-su’s throwing error before Kim Kang-min punctuated their six-run sixth inning with a three-run home run off An Ji-man, who surrendered four runs over an inning.