Multiple delays caused by inclement weather at the start of the Korean Series have given Kia Tigers manager Lee Bum-ho enough wiggle room to be creative with his pitching plans.
The opening game of the Korea Baseball Organization championship round between the Tigers and the Samsung Lions began Monday evening, but was put on hold with the Lions up 1-0 in the top of the sixth inning due to rain at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju, some 270 kilometers south of Seoul.
The suspended game was scheduled to resume Tuesday, followed by Game 2 later that same evening, but both games were postponed to Wednesday because of unplayable field conditions and expected rain.
These extra offdays will allow both the Tigers and the Lions to use their No. 1 starters, James Naile and Won Tae-in, for the second time this series on four days’ rest in Game 4 on Saturday.
With the Tigers going with a four-man rotation, left-hander Yoon Young-cheol would have been lined up to start Game 4 on Friday, instead of forcing Naile t
o go on three days’ rest. Now that Naile will almost certainly get the Game 4 nod, Yoon won’t get to start until Game 5 next Monday at the earliest, if the series goes that far.
Tigers manager Lee Bum-ho said he didn’t want to keep Yoon idle that long in the series.
“I think we will use him at some point early in the series,” Lee said Wednesday in his pregame press conference before the resumption of the suspended game. “The only issue is he has not pitched in relief before.”
Lee could be forgiven for not remembering Yoon’s only relief outing of his two-year career so far, which came on July 12 last year when Lee was the Tigers’ hitting coach.
But while Lee was laying out his plans, Yoon told reporters in a dugout scrum that he will be ready to do whatever the team asks him.
“Whether I am starting or pitching out of the bullpen, I am going to do my best. In a postseason series, my role doesn’t really mean anything,” Yoon said. “The most important thing is for me to stay ready and be in my best physical c
ondition.”
Yoon, 20, said he will be available out of the bullpen in both games Wednesday.
“Since this is the biggest stage in Korean baseball, I feel a bit nervous. But once I step on the mound, I think it’s going to be fun,” Yoon said. “In terms of my velocity and stuff, I think I am as good as I can be. I am at 100 percent now and I will try to get to 120 percent by the time I pitch.”
If Lee is reluctant to bring Yoon out of the pen, then he has another option in the 24-year-old right-hander Kim Do-hyeon.
Unlike Yoon, Kim has extensive relief experience and has mixed in a few starts throughout his six-year career.
“Kim Do-hyeon pitched well against the Lions and he seems to have the most confidence going up against them,” Lee said of the pitcher who fired 10 2/3 shutout innings in three appearances against the Korean Series foe this year. “If our starting pitcher gets into trouble, he will be the first guy out of the bullpen. We will try to use him as often as we can.”
Lee has already announced left-
hander Yang Hyeon-jong as his Game 2 starter for later Wednesday, but Lions skipper Park Jin-man said he will play it by ear.
He first wants to see if the Lions will be able to score in the sixth inning once Game 1 resumes, and how many runs they will be able to tack on, before settling on his bullpen usage and Game 2 starter. The Lions had two runners aboard with nobody out when the game was suspended.
Left-hander Lee Seung-hyun is a candidate to start Game 2, but he has been used in relief this postseason and has experience in both roles.
“The sixth inning will be huge for us. We have an opportunity to score some runs there,” Park said. “And by the time the sixth inning ends, we will have made the decision internally on who will start Game 2.”
While Naile and Won stand to benefit from the extra rest, Lions starter Denyi Reyes should be another beneficiary.
Reyes last pitched Saturday to clinch the Lions’ series win over the LG Twins. Normally, he would only have been available to start Game 3 on Thursd
ay on four days’ rest. With the third game now set for Friday, Reyes can go on extra rest and still be available for Game 7 next Wednesday on four days of break once again, if necessary.
“I think one more day for rest always is good. So I’m just keeping my routine to get ready for that game,” Reyes said. “I’m just trying to be ready and be able to do everything that’s possible for me to give the team an opportunity to win.”
Asked if he felt baseball gods were helping him with additional rest, Reyes smiled and said, “I don’t know, but if that’s the case, I hope they still help me.”
Reyes was the MVP of the Twins series after notching two wins while allowing just one earned run in 13 2/3 innings. He said he and catcher Kang Min-ho tried to pitch to contact in later innings, instead of trying to strikeout batters, to make sure Reyes could pitch deeper into games, and he will stick to the same strategy in the Korean Series.
“At this time, we all feel a little bit tired after pitching in a lot of games during
the regular season,” he said. “I just work to give everything I have to win the Korean Series.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
