Lions defend Korean Series title against Wyverns

The Samsung Lions players celebrate after defeating the SK Wyverns 7-0 to take their back-to-back Korean Series title at the Jamsil Baseball Stadium, Seoul, Thursday. / Yonhap

By Jung Min-ho

The Samsung Lions concluded their marvelous year Thursday by winning the Korean Series after beating the SK Wyverns 7-0 at the Jamsil Baseball Stadium.

A total of 26,000 fans at the arena exploded when the Daegu-based team claimed their second consecutive and their sixth overall Korean Series crown – the Lions won the title in 1985, 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2011.

“I feel so lucky. I really didn’t think that we could win a back-to-back Korean Series,” Lions manager Ryu Joong-il said. “After winning the first two games, many experts thought the series would end easily with our victory, but the fifth game was hard."

The event’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) Lee Seung-yuop banged out a three-base hit to make the Wyverns’ improbable task look impossible by extending the gap to seven at the top of the fourth inning, following Park Sok-min’s two-run homer and Bae Young-seop’s hit.

The Lions’ starter Jang Won-sam delivered almost perfect pitching, allowing only one hit and striking out nine in seven innings to earn his second Korean Series win. The bullpen pitchers, An Ji-man and Oh Seung-hwan, kept the door shut on the Wyverns’ batters until the end.

“It was the best year ever. My personal record is good and my team won the Korean Series,” Jang said.

The defending champions got an early lead when outfielder Choi Hyoung-woo hit a sacrifice fly which brought Bae home from third base in the first inning.

Wyverns starter Mario Santiago had to leave the mound after giving up three runs in the fourth inning but relief pitcher Song Eun-beom was soon replaced by Chei Byung-yong after Bae’s hit. With batters only producing two hits in the entire game, the Wyverns experienced a total defeat.

“Although we lost, it was miraculous that we even reached the Korean Series with so many injured players,” Wyverns manager Lee Man-soo said. “I really would like to thank all the coaching staff and players who worked really hard this year. The fifth game loss was critical, which kept me awake last night. We should have won it.”

The Lions started the Korean Series with two victories, signaling an easy win of the series on their home turf. However, the game went back to square one when the Wyverns swept the next two home games, drawing attention to the fifth game where the Lions prevailed 2-1 to again tip the balance.