Monday, November 28, 2011

Samsung 6, Uni-President Lions 3

W - Kwon Oh-joon, L - Ryan Glynn, S - Oh Seung-hwan
Samsung HR - Choi Hyeong-woo
Uni President HR - Kuo Chun-yu

Samsung really appeared to be trying really hard to not lose this game.

The Lions trotted out mascot Bae Yeong-su to start the game. Bae was once one of the truly dominant pitchers in the KBO, but injury has robbed Bae of most of his ability. He's able to get batters out, but he doesn't have nearly the stuff he had when he was leading Samsung to a championship in 2005. Bae tossed 5 innings(64 pitches, 45 strikes) of one-run baseball. Bae gave up five hits and struck out one.

Samsung broke a scoreless tie in the third inning with a RBI single from right fielder Park Han-yi. First baseman Chae Tae-in pushed the lead to 2-0 with a sac fly.

The Lions added an insurance run in the fourth on a RBI ground out from catcher Jin Kab-yong to push the lead to 3-0. It turns out, they would need the extra runs.

Uni-President answered back in the bottom of the fourth with a RBI single from DH Yang Song-hsien.

Uni-President tied the game in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run bomb from left fielder Kuo Chun-yu. Samsung reliever Kwon Hyeok absolutely served one up on a platter to Kuo.

For the Samsung's sake, reliever Kwon Oh-joon shut down the Uni-President Lions for the next 2 1/3 innings. Kwon struck out four and gave up absolutely nothing.

In the top of the eighth, Samsung DH Choi Hyeong-woo finally made his prescence felt in this tournament by taking a 0-1 offering from Ryan Glynn over the center field wall for a two-run homer. Samsung picked up another run in the top of the ninth when reliever Wang Ching-ming threw a wild pitch with a runner on third.

Samsung closer Oh Seung-hwan struck out two during a scoreless ninth to put Samsung into the final against the NPB's Softbank Hawks.

The final will be played at 8 PM Korean time on 10/29. Starters have yet to be announced.

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