The LG Twins played offense until the sixth inning of Game 1 of the Korean Series.
The three innings after the seventh quickly disappeared in front of KT Wiz’s powerful bullpen duo of Son Dong-hyun (22) and Park Young-hyun (20).
Ko Young-pyo, who is known for his quality starts (three or fewer earned runs in at least six innings), pitched through the sixth inning with two runs (one earned) before handing the baton to Son Dong-hyun in the seventh.
Son Dong-hyun, who pitched in all five games of the playoffs against the NC Dinos, winning the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award with a perfect record of 1-0 and a 0.00 ERA, was unrelenting in his first Korean Series appearance.
In the seventh inning, with the score tied at 2-2, Son cleaned up LG’s center field lineup of Park Hae-min at second, Kim Hyun-soo at third, and Austin Dean at fourth with two strikeouts and a fly ball.
His fastball touched 146-147 kilometers per hour, 안전카지노사이트 and he dazzled batters with a forked ball.
The LG batsmen started to panic in earnest after failing to score more runs despite a couple of good chances from the sideways delivery of Ko Young-pyo.
Son Dong-hyun took the mound in the eighth inning and cooked three batters – Oh Ji-hwan, Moon Bo-kyung and Park Dong-won – with three fly balls to throw cold water on the chase.
In the top of the ninth, Moon Sang-chul hit a celestial double to center field, prompting KT manager Lee Kang-cheol to bring in Park Young-hyun, who was warming up in the bullpen, instead of closer Kim Jae-yoon.
Luck was also on LG’s side as Moon Sung-joo’s pitch hit Young-hyun’s body and deflected toward first base.
Shin Min-jae and Hong Chang-ki followed with a grounder to second base and a strikeout, respectively.
As nine batters were retired in a row against KT’s two vaunted bullpen duos, LG lost the first game with a must-win strategy.
Park Young-hyun, who made the leap to national set-up man after the Hangzhou Asian Games, also pitched fearlessly to shut the Wizards’ back door.
Both players, now in their early 20s, throw heavy fastballs with plenty of guts and a steady delivery.
Their composure on the big stage, in the big game, never faltered, surprising even Lee Kang-chul.
LG, which is outpaced by KT in the weight of its starting pitching staff, is faced with the added pressure of having to shut down Son Dong-hyun and Park Young-hyun to even the series in Game 2. 온라인카지노