SOUTH KOREA – Lee Jong-beom drove in three runs and Aquilino Lopez tossed eight solid innings to help the Kia Tigers beat SK Wyverns 5-3 Friday night in the Korean Series opening game in Gwangju.

Game 2 of the Korea Baseball Organization’s (KBO) best-of-seven title series will take place at Moodeung Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Wyverns, the two-time reigning KBO champion, opened the scoring in the third. Na Ju-hwan ignited the rally with a leadoff single, and crossed the plate on Park Jae-hong’s two-out RBI single to put his team on top.

The Incheon-based squad pushed the lead to 2-0 in the fourth on back-to-back doubles by Jung Keun-woo and Park Jung-kwon. But Kia managed to get on the board in the bottom of the same inning.

Former LG Twins third baseman, Kim Sang-hyun, who led the league with 36 home runs and 127 RBIs, tallied a run-scoring sacrifice fly to make it a one-run ballgame.

The regular season champion forged ahead in the sixth off reliever Ko Hyo-joon. The southpaw struggled to locate the strike zone with three walks to load the bases. Wyverns skipper Kim Sung-keun called on Yoon Gil-hyon to defuse the rally, but Lee delivered a two-run single to give the Tigers a 3-2 advantage.

Chung Sang-ho pulled SK even in the seventh with a solo homer, but Kia regained the lead for good the following inning.

Lee drilled an RBI single with runners on first and third to break the deadlock, and Kim Sang-hoon added an insurance run later in the frame to seal the Game 1 victory.

Lopez overcame a slow start to tally the series opening win. The Dominican right-hander allowed three runs on six hits with seven strikeouts. Closer Yoo Dong-hoon worked a scoreless ninth to earn the save.

Yoon Suk-min will get the nod for the Tigers in Game 2, while Wyverns will send Song Eun-beom to the hill.

Photo courtesy of koreabaseball.blogspot.com

Information from: Korea Times, http://www.koreatimes.co.kr

Tags: South Korea