Doosan beats NC to stay alive in S. Korean baseball postseason

The Doosan Bears will live to see another day of South Korean postseason baseball.

The Bears defeated the NC Dinos 7-0 at home, Jamsil Stadium in Seoul, behind another strong start by right-hander Dustin Nippert, forcing a deciding Game 5 in their second round playoff series in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO).

The final game of the best-of-five series will move back to the Dinos' home in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, at 2 p.m. Saturday. The winner will advance to the Korean Series, where they will meet the four-time defending champion Samsung Lions.

Nippert, pitching on three days' rest, continued his mastery of the Dinos, with seven scoreless innings of two-hit ball. On Sunday, Nippert had thrown his first postseason complete game shutout, giving up just three hits.

The Bears ended the string of zeros with three runs in the bottom of the sixth, on a two-run single by Oh Jae-won and an RBI hit by Ko Young-min. They added another in the seventh and three more in the eighth to round out the scoring. The Bears had 13 hits Thursday, after managing just three hits each in Games 2 and 3.

And it was more than enough support for Nippert, who retired his final 14 batters in a row to improve to 2-0 this postseason with a 0.78 ERA in 23 innings.

The winning manager Kim Tae-hyung said Nippert kept the Bears in the game early before the hitters found their groove.

"Nippert was dealing from the start," Kim said. "We could have got on the board a bit earlier in the game, but we kept knocking on their door and it paid off."

The Bears kept the pressure on Eric Hacker, the NC starter also pitching on short rest, from the get-go.

Hacker escaped his first jam in the bottom second. He gave up two straight singles to start the inning, and a sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third.

Hacker then helped his own cause, snaring a hard comebacker off the bat of Oh Jae-won and getting Kim Hyun-soo, the runner at third, in a rundown.

The next batter, Oh Jae-il, grounded out to third to end the inning.

In the top third, the Dinos put a runner at second after a single and a groundout, but Park Min-woo went down swinging for the inning's final out.

The Bears threatened in the third, after Hur Kyoung-min lined a two-out double to left center, but Min Byung-hun struck out looking.

Hacker worked around two walks in the fourth, with some help from his defense. With one out and men at first and second, left fielder Kim Jong-ho made a nifty sliding catch on a shallow fly to save at least a run.

Hacker then struck out pinch hitter Choi Joo-hwan to get out of the inning unscathed.

His luck ran out in the sixth inning, when the Bears loaded the bases with no outs after a double, a walk and a single.

After one out, Oh Jae-won hit a chopper over the head of first baseman Eric Thames to drive in the Bears' first two runs.

Ko Young-min then singled to left to make it 3-0 Bears, chasing Hacker from the game after 5 1/3 innings. The right-hander allowed three runs on eight hits and three walks, while striking out four.

Cleanup Kim Hyun-soo made it 4-0 for Doosan with a double in the bottom seventh. The Bears kept the pedal to the metal in the eighth. With two on and two outs, Hur Kyoung-min laced a double down the right field line for a 6-0 advantage. Min Byung-hun's ensuing double to right center gap made it 7-0.

The Dinos came to life in the eighth after Nippert left the game. They got two singles off reliever Lee Hyun-seung, and when Lee made a wild pickoff throw to second, the Dinos had men at second and third with two outs.

Lee then struck out pinch hitter Mo Chang-min to end the threat, his third K of the inning.

Lee also took care of the ninth inning to preserve the victory for Nippert.

Hur Kyoung-min went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored out of the No. 2 hole for the Bears. Their No. 3-4-5 hitters, Min Byung-hun, Kim Hyun-soo and Yang Eui-ji, each had two hits apiece.

Starting pitchers from Game 2 will clash in the deciding game Saturday. The Dinos will start right-hander Zach Stewart, who threw a complete game in the 2-1 victory on Monday. Doosan left-hander Jang Won-jun will be back on the mound, after getting a no-decision despite tossing seven scoreless innings in Monday's game. (Yonhap)