Samsung Lions players leave the field after losing to the Kia Tigers 8-3 in Game 2 of the Korean Series at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju, some 270 kilometers south of Seoul, on Oct. 23, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
DAEGU, Oct. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — The Samsung Lions face a 2-0 deficit in the Korean Series after dropping the first two games against the Kia Tigers this week but it has not been an insurmountable hole.
This is the 42nd playing of the Korean Series, the championship round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason. And there have been 20 occasions where a team built a 2-0 lead in this best-of-seven series.
And twice has a team rallied from that deficit to win the championship — the 2007 SK Wyverns (currently SSG Landers) and the 2013 Lions.
The 2007 series between the Wyverns and the Doosan Bears is best remembered for the seven-run outburst by the Wyverns in the top of the sixth inning of Game 3, which included four errors by the Bears and a bench-clearing incident. The Wyverns won that game 9-1 and went on to take the next three games as well.
Bears left-hander Lee Hei-chun threw behind the back of Kim Jae-hyun during that fateful sixth inning, prompting players from both benches to charge the field. It was seen as a payback attempt by the Bears after seven of their players got nailed by a pitch over the first two games of the series. Years later, players from both sides in that series still point to that sixth-inning mayhem as the turning point of the series, with the Wyverns getting credited with getting into the Bears’ head by straddling the line between gamesmanship and dirty antics.
In 2013, the Lions came back from a 2-0 deficit and then a 3-1 deficit to beat the Bears in seven games for their third consecutive Korean Series title.
The Lions eked out a 3-2 win in Game 3, scoring those runs via an error by the Bears, a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch.
They looked doomed after losing the next game 2-1, but stayed alive by taking Game 5 with some bold pitching usage.
With the score tied at 5-5 in the seventh, Rick van den Hurk, a scheduled starter for Game 6, came out of the bullpen. He ended up throwing two shutout innings and was credited with the win after the Lions scored twice in the top eighth for the 7-5 win. It was a gamble by Lions manager Ryu Joong-il, who chose to use all of his best pieces available at hand to try to salvage their season. His counterpart, Kim Jin-wook, was criticized for being too conservative and not trying to close out the series when they could.
The Lions started van den Hurk as planned for Game 6 just two days later, and he only lasted one inning and gave up a leadoff homer to Jung Soo-bin.
Samsung Lions manager Park Jin-man watches his team play the Kia Tigers during Game 2 of the Korean Series at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju, some 270 kilometers south of Seoul, on Oct. 23, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
But a parade of eight pitchers out of the bullpen held the Bears to just one more run over the remaining eight frames, while the Lions touched Bears starter Dustin Nippert for six runs in 6 2/3 innings for a 6-2 victory.
By sending in nine pitchers, the Lions set a record for most pitchers used in a nine-inning Korean Series game. Once again, it was an aggressive bullpen usage on Ryu’s part, because the Lions had their back against the wall.
Ryu only ended up needing four pitches in Game 7, as the Lions scored five runs in the bottom sixth for the title-clinching, history-making 7-3 win.
The 2024 Lions may just have to follow a similar script and try to be more creative, if not downright desperate, with their bullpen usage. Some additional offense would also help, after the Lions, the regular-season leaders in home runs, managed just one long ball with a .319 slugging percentage in the first two games.
One thing that may work in favor of this year’s Lions is that they will be home for the next two games after losing the first two. During the regular season, the Lions had the second-best home record at 41-32, behind only the Tigers. Both the 2007 Wyverns and the 2013 Lions dropped the first two contests at home and had to claw their way back in road games.
This series features a couple of members from the 2007 and 2013 Korean Series. Lions hitting coach Lee Jin-young was an outfielder on the 2007 Wyverns. And Choi Hyoung-woo, who batted .308 for the Lions in the 2013 series, now plays for the Tigers.
(Yonhap)
