Korean Series
Kia Tigers beat Doosan Bears 5-1 in Game 4
The Kia Tigers defeated the Doosan Bears 5-1 in Game 4 of the Korean Series, Sunday.
The Tigers now sit with a 3-1 series lead and are only one win away from their 11th Korean Series championship. Meanwhile, the Bears must win every game from now on in order to complete their three-peat.
Despite chilly and windy weather conditions, 25,000 spectators packed the Jamsil Baseball Stadium to watch the championship series of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) League.
The Tigers started their sidearm pitcher Im Gi-yeong while the Bears countered with southpaw Yoo Hee-kwan. Im earned his first career Korean Series win after throwing a scoreless 5 2/3 innings with six strikeouts. Kim Se-hyun picked up a save, throwing a scoreless 1 1/3 innings.
The Tigers got off to a good start from the first inning, scoring two runs.
With one out in the top of the first inning, Kim Joo-chan hit a double to right center off Bears’ starter Yoo and Roger Bernadina drove him home with a triple down the right field line. Then, the No. 4 hitter Choi Hyung-woo brought Bernadina home with an infield single to make it 2-0.
After trading zeroes, the Tigers added two more runs in the top seventh.
Lee Bum-ho led off the inning with a single and Kim Min-sik sent Lee to second base with a sacrifice bunt. Kim Sun-bin drew a walk to fill the first base and Lee Myung-ki hit a fly out to left fielder.
With runners on first and second base with two outs, Kim Joo-chan hit a grounder to shortstop Kim Jae-ho who bobbled the ball and pinch-runner Ko Jang-hyeok scored from second.
With runners on first and third, Bernadina then followed up with a single to left to give the Tigers some insurance.
The Bears scored their first and only run in the bottom of the eighth inning with Nick Evans’ two-out single.
The Tigers added one more run in the ninth on Kim Joo-chan’s fielder’s choice and closer Kim Se-hyun closed out the game.
Game 5, which will take place at Jamsil Baseball Stadium at 6:30 p.m., Monday, will be a rematch of ace pitchers.
The Tigers will start Hector Noesi who gave up four earned runs while striking out only two in six innings in Game 1. The Dominican pitcher baffled the Bears’ batters to only two hits up until the third inning, but things got rough from the fourth.
For the must-win game, the Bears will counter with ace Dustin Nippert, who had been strong in autumn baseball. It remains to be seen whether the veteran pitcher can give the Bears life. He picked up a win in the 5-3 Game 1 win, Wednesday, and recorded an ERA of 2.25 in six career Korean Series starts.