A pair of former major league pitchers will square off in the pivotal third game of the Korean baseball championship series.
The Kia Tigers took the first two games of the best-of-seven Korean Series over the Samsung Lions at their home in Gwangju. As the series shifts to Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, about 235 kilometers southeast of Seoul, the Tigers will send left-hander Eric Lauer to the mound in a bid to take a stranglehold on the series for Game 3 at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
Lauer, who won 36 games over six seasons with the San Diego Padres and the Milwaukee Brewers, joined the Tigers in August as an injury replacement. The American made his Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) debut against the Lions on Aug. 11, when he allowed seven hits, including two home runs, in just 3 1/3 innings.
Kang Min-ho and Park Byung-ho were the two home run hitters in that game. Park is mired in a 3-for-22 slump this postseason. He has struck out nine times and does not have an extra-base hit.
The Lions will counter with right-hander Denyi Reyes, who will be going on five days’ rest. Reyes was voted the MVP of the previous series against the LG Twins after earning two wins and posting a 0.66 ERA.
Formerly with the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Mets, Reyes struggled to an 8.31 ERA and a 0-2 record in three regular-season starts versus the Tigers this year.
He surrendered four home runs in those games, one each to Kim Do-yeong, Choi Hyoung-woo, Na Sung-bum and Choi Won-jun.
Kim hit a solo home run in the Tigers’ 8-3 win in Game 2 Wednesday for his first career postseason homer.
Of the 20 teams that lost the first two games in the Korean Series, only two came back to win the title. If the Lions lose Game 3, they will face even steeper odds. No team has ever rallied from a 3-0 Korean Series deficit for the championship on 12 previous occasions. Only one team, the 2000 Doosan Bears, forced a Game 7 in that scenario before coming up short in the deciding game. (Yonhap)
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