Lotte Giants Fall Again In KBO Playoffs

SOUTH KOREA - The Samsung Lions slipped past the Lotte Giants 4-3 in Game 2 of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) playoffs on Thursday at Sajik Stadium in Busan to move closer to advancing to the second round. The Lions lead the best-of-five series two games to none.

The Lions missed out on a scoring opportunity in the first but broke through in the second when first baseman Chae Tae-in ripped a double off Giants starting pitcher Son Min-han, who went 12-4 with a 2.97 ERA during the regular season, and Cho Dong-chan followed with an RBI single up the middle to put Samsung on top, 1-0.

The Giants answered back in the bottom of third when cleanup hitter Lee Dae-ho singled with runners on the corners, to knot the score at 1-all. But the four-time Korean Series champions from Samsung countered back the next inning.

Chae, who had just one hit in five at-bats in Game 1, put the Lions ahead 2-1 with a solo homer into the right-field seats.

The Lions wasted another scoring threat in the fifth when Lotte’s left-handed reliever Kang Young-sik struck out Choi Hyung-woo with the bases loaded to end the inning.

The Giants, who racked up three runs on nine hits in Game 1, put runners on the corners with no outs and pulled even on Cho Sung-hwan’s groundout. However, shortstop Park Jin-man broke the tie with a one-out based loaded double off the fence in left-field off reliever Choi Hyang-nam to make it 4-2.

Pinch hitter Kim Min-sung led off the ninth with a single to center and scored one out later on Kim Joo-chan’s run-scoring double to cut the deficit to 4-3. However, closer Oh Seung-hwan sat down Lee In-koo, who had four hits in the game, and Cho to seal the victory and move Samsung to within one win of ousting the Giants from the playoffs.

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