(LEAD) Eagles on cusp of Korean Series after beating Lions on road
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By Yoo Jee-ho
DAEGU, Oct. 21 (Yonhap) -- The Hanwha Eagles reached the brink of their first Korean Series appearance in 19 years after beating the Samsung Lions 5-4 on the road Tuesday.
Cleanup Roh Si-hwan blasted a go-ahead two-run homer in the fifth inning, and starter-turned-reliever Moon Dong-ju fired four shutout innings for a relief win at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in the southeastern city of Daegu, as the Eagles grabbed a 2-1 lead in this best-of-five Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason series.
The Eagles can close out the Lions in Game 4, set for a 6:30 p.m. start Wednesday in Daegu. The winner of this series will advance to the Korean Series against the LG Twins.
The Eagles last played in the Korean Series in 2006, when they lost to the Lions. The Eagles' only title came in 1999.
The bats were kept silent for the first three innings, with both starters -- Ariel Jurado for the Lions and Ryu Hyun-jin for the Eagles -- navigating through traffic before a sellout crowd of 23,680
The Eagles ended the string of zeroes with two runs in the top fourth. Ha Ju-suk's two-out double scored Chae Eun-seong, who had drawn a walk and taken second when Jurado bounced a changeup in the dirt.
Lee Do-yun followed up with a single through the hole on the right that brought Ha home for a 2-0 lead.
But the Lions erased that deficit in the bottom fourth, courtesy of two home runs.
After an infield single and a walk put two men aboard, Kim Young-woong then clobbered a first-pitch changeup from Ryu for a lead-flipping three-run homer.
Two batters later, Kim Tae-hoon joined the party with a solo home run to right field, staking the Lions to a 4-2 lead.
The Eagles punched right back in the top fifth to retake their lead. With one out, Son Ah-seop and Luis Liberato hit back-to-back doubles to cut the Lions' lead to 4-3. After a groundout moved Liberato to third, Roh Si-hwan smoked a line drive home run off Jurado's hanging curveball, a two-run shot that put the Eagles up 5-4. It was Roh's second home run in as many games.
Ryu was pulled after giving up four runs in the fourth inning alone. Lefty reliever Kim Beom-su then pitched a scoreless fifth before issuing a leadoff walk in the sixth.
Fireballer Moon Dong-ju came on for Kim to retire the next three batters, two via strikeouts.
Moon kept the Eagles in front by stranding two runners on base in the seventh inning. He retired the dangerous Lewin Diaz, who led the regular season with 50 home runs, on a flyball to center for the final out.
Moon returned to work a scoreless eighth inning, pitching around a leadoff single with two more strikeouts. He then recorded two more strikeouts for a perfect ninth inning and for his first career postseason win.
The Eagles will try to close out the series Wednesday with rookie left-hander Jeong Woo-joo as their starter.
Jeong made his postseason debut in relief Sunday. The hard-throwing 18-year-old pitched to a 2.00 ERA in six outings against the Lions during the regular season. He had 11 strikeouts in nine innings against them, while giving up two homers.
The Lions will counter with their homegrown ace Won Tae-in, who has held opponents to one run in 12 2/3 innings so far this postseason.
He had a 3.20 ERA and a 3-1 record in four regular-season starts against the Eagles.
Roh Si-hwan, who hit the go-ahead homer Tuesday and who is a good friend of Won's, had a homer and three other hits against the pitcher in the regular season.
jeeho@yna.co.kr
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