Tigers manager credits bullpen in crucial road win in KBO postseason

By Yoo Jee-ho

DAEGU, Oct. 26 (Yonhap) -- Following a road postseason victory in which his lineup produced two home runs, Kia Tigers manager Lee Bum-ho said his bullpen had an even bigger hand Monday night.

The Tigers got past the Samsung Lions 5-1 in Game 1 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in the southeastern city of Daegu. Cleanup Harold Castro and designated hitter Han Jun-su were the offensive stars with a homer apiece, but five relief pitchers held the Lions to a hit over the final 4 2/3 innings.

They had to cover those innings after starter James Naile was automatically ejected for hitting Park Seung-kyu in the head with a fastball with one out in the fifth inning. Naile had given up just one hit up to that point, and the hit-by-pitch came on just his 57th pitch of the game.

No one was warming up in the bullpen at the time, and Jung Hai-young was the first one summoned to the mound. With the Lions rallying, Jung limited the damage to an RBI single by Kim Young-woong.

That ended up being the last hit by the Lions in this game.

Left-hander Lee Eui-lee worked 1 1/3 innings and struck out three batters. Cho Sang-woo followed with 1 1/3 clean innings, and lefty Kwak Do-gyu got the final out of the eighth. Jeon Sang-hyun then retired the side in order in the ninth.

Manager Lee said he barely had time to react to the pitch to the head, with him forced to throw his original bullpen plan out the window and make adjustments to cover the remaining innings.

"Hai-young did a wonderful job minimizing the damage. He was in the toughest spot as the first guy out in a scrambling situation like that," Lee said. "Even though he could not have been fully warmed up, he still threw really hard."

Lee Eui-lee was credited with the win for his effort after taking the mound in the sixth. Manager Lee said the plan had been to have the left-hander face a pocket of left-handed batters in the Lions' lineup much later in the game.

"When he can find the zone, he can be pretty dominant," the skipper said of the pitcher. "How we best utilize Eui-lee will be a key for us the rest of this series."

On offense, the Tigers got six of their seven hits from the middle of the lineup -- two by Kim Do-yeong, three by Castro and one by Na Sung-bum. The table-setters atop the order, Park Jung-woo and Park Jae-hyun, went a combined 0-for-9 with four strikeouts.

"Those two guys have to get on base more often to help us put up big numbers," Lee said. "I will see if we should make some changes or stick with them for at least another game."

Park Jin-man, the losing manager, sounded as if he was definitely making lineup changes for Tuesday after the Lions eked out just two singles Monday.

"I may put in some new guys or at least shuffle the batting order," Park said. "Naile pitched well, but our guys just didn't swing the bat all that well. I think we should all have a different approach to the game tomorrow, myself included."

Park also said he would have liked more from his starter Chris Paddack, who was charged with five earned runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings.

"He gave up too many early runs against the heart of their lineup, and the home run to Castro that made it 4-0 (in the third inning) was the big blow," the manager said. "We got in an early hole."

Park did see some silver lining from the performance of his bullpen, with four relievers combining for 4 1/3 shutout innings.

"Other than Paddack, our relievers all did their part."

jeeho@yna.co.kr
(END)