Lions manager prepared to go all-in with bullpen to open KBO postseason series

Making his postseason debut as manager Sunday, Samsung Lions skipper Park Jin-man will work like he is managing an elimination game. As the Lions prepare to host the LG Twins to begin their best-of-five showdown in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason, Park said he will take an all-hands-on-deck approach to his bullpen usage. The Lions are short on viable arms with an injury to Choi Ji-gwang and an ineffective late-season performance by veteran closer Oh Seung-hwan, both of whom have been left off the roster. Starters Connor Seabold and Baek Jung-hyun have been sidelined with injuries too. Samsung Lions manager Park Jin-man speaks to reporters at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in the southeastern city of Daegu on Oct. 13, 2024, before a Korea Baseball Organization postseason game against the LG Twins on Oct. 13, 2024. (Yonhap) Samsung Lions manager Park Jin-man speaks to reporters at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in the southeastern city of Daegu on Oct. 13, 2024, before a Korea Baseball Organization pos tseason game against the LG Twins on Oct. 13, 2024. (Yonhap) Park said he will need Game 1 starter Denyi Reyes to go as deep as can, but if things go awry, even the scheduled Game 3 starter, Lee Seung-hyun, will be available out of the bullpen. "Ideally, Reyes will go deep into the game, but we will have our bullpen ready to go on short notice," Park told reporters at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in the southeastern city of Daegu. Reyes is also scheduled to go in Game 4 on Thursday, if the series goes that deep, on three days' rest, but Park said he won't limit the right-hander's pitch count. "The first game is always important, and he has to go as long as possible," Park said. "We will try to win this series in four games or less. That will help us with our pitching plans for the Korean Series." The Lions had a bye to this stage of the postseason after posting the second-best record in the regular season. They haven't played since Sept. 28, and Park said how quickly his hitters can find their groove will de termine his team's fate. "We're a power-hitting team, and our hitters have to get into rhythm quickly for us to capitalize on our strength," Park said. "We prepared as well as we could, but scrimmages are different than postseason games in terms of intensity. So we'll see how things go in early innings." Park's counterpart, Youm Kyoung-youb, said he will lean on well-rested arms in his bullpen to contribute more than they did in the previous series against the KT Wiz. Youm leaned heavily on Elieser Hernandez, Kim Jin-sung and Son Ju-young in their five-game series win over the Wiz, with Hernandez appearing in all five games. Son is scheduled to return to the rotation in this series, and that means less-trusted pitchers like Jung Woo-young and Baek Seung-hyun will have to step up. "This is a fresh start for the guys who didn't pitch a lot in the last series," Youm said. "I would say Eli (Hernandez) is really the only one who is fatigued. Everyone else will be ready to go and eat up innings." Youm said las t week he would use Hernandez as the closer for this series but could go longer than the one inning that the team had initially planned for him. "We don't want to tax him too much, but I think he can handle up to five batters per outing, depending on situations," Youm said. Source: Yonhap News Agency