(Story by Marco Stoovelaar)
 Wyverns retakes lead in Korean Series
Nederlands
 INCHEON (South Korea) -
SK Wyverns has retaken the lead in the best-of-seven Korean Series by winning 7-2 on Wednesday-evening (November 7) in Game 3 against Doosan Bears.
Wyverns opened the Series on Sunday a 7-3 victory.
Bears then also won with a 7-3 score on Monday to even the Championship Final.
Playing in its first game at home in Incheon, Wyverns re-took the lead on Wednesday.
Game 4 will be played on Thursday.
At Incheon SK Happy Dream Park (which is the name of Munhak Baseball Stadium due to sponsoring), the home team took an early lead, scoring three runs in the first inning.
Wyverns added a run in the second at bat.
In the top of the fifth, Bears cut the deficit in half by scoring two runs, but Wyverns answered with three more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Jamie Romak contributed with two homeruns and batted in four runs.
Merrill Kelly started for Wyverns and threw seven strong innings, giving up only four hits.
In the bottom of the first inning, Wyverns had two runners on base when Jamie Romak hit his first homerun off of starter Yong-Chan Lee.
The home-team added its fourth run in the second at bat on an infield-hit by Dong-Min Han.
Second baseman Jae-Won Oh made a diving stop of the batted ball, but Oh beat the throw to first base with a head-first sliding while runner Seung-Ho Kang scored.
In the fifth inning, the Bears got two (unearned) runs back due to an error.
Lead-off hitter Eui-Ji Yang reached on an error, advanced on a grounder and scored on a single by Jae-Ho Kim, which was the first basehit off of Kelly.
Kim then also moved on a grounder and scored on a single by Jae-Won Oh to make it a 4-2 score.
In the sixth inning, the Bears got the bases loaded, but failed to score.
With a 4-2 lead, Jamie Romak led off the eighth inning with his second homerun off of reliever Chi-Guk Park to add an insurance run.
The Canadian was named Player of the Game afterwards.
A pitching change followed, but new pitcher Won-Jun Jang was greeted with a single by pinch-hitter Ju-Hwan Na.
That led to another pitching change, but Seung-Hye Kim then gave up a 2-run homerun to Jae-Won Lee that lifted the score to 7-2.
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...Dong-Won Choi pitching for Lotte Giants... |
On Tuesday, American righthander Josh Lindblom, who started Game 1 for Bears, was named Best Pitcher of the Year in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO).
Lindblom is in his first season with the Bears after having pitched for Lotte Giants in the previous three seasons.
Between 2012 and 2017, Lindblom pitched in 114 Major League-games for Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics and Pittsburgh Pirates.
Lindblom became the first foreign pitcher to win the BNK Busan Bank Choi Dong-Won Award, which was handed out for the first time in 2014.
Until last year, only Korean-born pitchers were eligible for the Award.
Foreign pitchers are allowed in the KBO since 1998, two per team.
The Award is named after former pitcher Dong-Won Choi, one of the best pitchers in Korean baseball-history, who passed away in September 2011, at age 53, of colon cancer.
Choi was one of the pitchers who helped the National Team of South Korea to win three medals of three consecutive World Championships.
In 1978, South Korea won the Bronze Medal in Rimini (Italy), then won the Silver Medal in 1980 in Tokyo (Japan).
In 1982, South Korea won the World Championship-title when the event was held on home soil in Seoul.
In 1977, Choi also won the Gold Medal with South Korea at the Intercontinental Cup in Managua (Nicaragua).
Choi was named Best Pitcher of the 1981 Intercontinental Cup in Canada.
In 1982, there was a professional baseball season for the first time in South Korea.
After the successful World Championship of 1982, Choi went on to play professionally.
He played for Lotte Giants (1983-1988) and Samsung Lions (1989-1990).
Later, he was a coach for Hanwha Eagles (2001, 2005-2008).
In 1984, Choi was 27-13 with a 2.40 ERA and 223 strikeouts and was named Most Valuable Player.
As he threw more than 200 innings in several seasons, he got the nickname 'iron arm'.
(November 7)
Related Articles:
 Bears evens Korean Series. (November 5)
Wyverns wins opening game Korean Series. (November 4)
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