4 home runs help Dream past Nanum in KBO All-Star Game

Min Byung-hun of the Doosan Bears poses with a MVP trophy during the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) All-Star Game at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul, Saturday. / Yonhap

By Baek Byung-yeul

For baseball fans in Korea, enjoying a baseball game on a rainy day would have been unimaginable just last year.

With the country now in the middle of monsoon season fans no longer needed to worry about possible rainouts as Saturday’s All-Star Game of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) was held at the Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul.

Despite the drizzling rain outside, a sell-out crowd of 16,300 spectators packed the ballpark. Doosan Bears outfielder Min Byung-hun hit two home runs and claimed his first most valuable player (MVP) title.

With Min’s two long balls, the Dream All-Star team ― consisting of the Samsung Lions, the SK Wyverns, the Lotte Giants, the KT Wiz and the Bears ― defeated the Nanum All-Star team ― the NC Dinos, the Nexen Heroes, the Hanwha Eagles, the Kia Tigers and the LG Twins ― 8-4. With the win, the Dream team maintained their dominance over Nanum recording 26 wins and 14 losses.

Min started the game batting third and led his team’s offense with two solo home runs in the first and seventh. Including two homers, the 29-year-old outfielder went 3-for-3 and a walk. He received 47 media votes, among a total of 55, to receive the honor. As a prize, Min received a Kia K5 sedan worth 29 million won ($25,460).

After claiming the MVP title, Min said “This is the happiest day of my life.”

“I never dreamed that this kind of day would come to me. I just tried not to be greedy at bat and that made me hit home runs,” he told reporters.

Min also expressed his gratitude to his mother, saying he will give the car to her.

This year’s All-Star Game was tight until the fifth inning.

Dream lead the game 1-0 with Min’s first inning home run, but was soon tied after Nanum’s designated hitter Wilin Rosario hit a solo shot in the second inning.

Nanum added two more runs with Lee Yong-kyu’s triple and Na Sung-bum’s sacrifice fly, but the game was tied again at 3-3 in the following inning with Choi Hyung-woo and Yang Eui-ji’s sacrifice flies.

But Dream took the lead again in the fifth with Park Kyung-soo’s RBI double and Choi’s RBI single. The team bookended the game with big runs in the eighth as Park, Jung Eui-yoon, Min hit back-to-back-to-back home runs.

A day earlier, Luis Jimenez of the Twins won the home run derby defeating Park Kyung-soo of the Wiz.

The Dominican player advanced to the finals with five home runs and won the prize money of 3 million won after hitting five more in the finals.

Last year’s winner Hwang Jae-gyun of the Giants and the runner-up Eric Thames of the Dinos didn’t make the finals after hitting one and two home runs respectively.