Tigers win battle of bullpens to take Korean Series opener

In a Korean Series battle between two of the best offensive teams in the league, relief pitching made the biggest difference Wednesday. The Kia Tigers defeated the Samsung Lions 5-1 in the suspended Game 1 of the Korean Series at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju, 270 kilometers south of Seoul. The game had been put on hold on the rainy Monday night, with the Lions up 1-0 with nobody out in the top of the sixth. Kim Young-woong had a 1-0 count at the plate against reliever Jang Hyun-sik. When the teams finally returned to action after another delay Tuesday, the Tigers replaced Jang with right-hander Jeon Sang-hyun. And he closed out the inning without giving up a run. Kim put down a bunt, but catcher Kim Tae-gun fielded it quickly and threw out the lead runner, Lewin Diaz, at third. Jeon then struck out the dangerous slugger Park Byung-ho. He walked Yoon Jeong-bin to load the bases but pitched himself out of trouble by getting Lee Jae-hyeon to ground out back to the mound. Jeon got into another jam in the seventh, when Ryu Ji-hyuk reached on an error and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. But Jeon struck out Kim Hun-gon, who had homered before the game was suspended, and then left-hander Kwak Do-gyu took over. Kwak struck out Lewin Diaz to end the top seventh, and the Tigers' hitters responded by scoring four times in the bottom half of that inning to turn a one-run deficit into a 4-1 lead. Kwak pitched a clean eighth inning, which included a strikeout of Kim Young-woong. Then closer Jung Hai-young did the rest with a perfect ninth inning. In contrast, the Lions' bullpen faltered after starter Won Tae-in had thrown five shutout innings before the suspension. In the bottom seventh, Lim Chang-min, their fourth pitcher of the game, bounced two wild pitches to let in the tying run and then the go-ahead run, and later surrendered an RBI single to Socrates Brito. Kim Yun-su came on for Lim to put out the fire but instead allowed a run-scoring single to Kim Do-yeong that made it a 4-1 game. Kim Tae -gun's RBI double off the seventh Lions pitcher, Lee Seung-hyun, rounded out the scoring. After the restart, the Tigers' three relievers combined for three no-hit innings and struck out four, while the Lions' six pitchers out of the bullpen served up seven hits and five runs. Source: Yonhap News Agency