Eagles Win in Round 1

I WAS AT THIS GAME LIVE (I KNOW, BIG SURPRISE) 4+ HOURS.

Paced by Lee Beum-ho’s two home runs and a gutsy 3 1/3 innings thrown by Tuesday’s starter Ryu Hyeon-jin, the Hanwha Eagles advanced to the second round of the KBO playoffs with a 5-3 victory last night.

Hanwha got to Samsung starter Rick Mazone early with two runs in the bottom of the first. Lions manager Sun Dong-yeol wasted no time in pulling Mazone on an evening that would see no less than eight Samsung pitchers take the hill.

The seventh of those pitchers, closer Oh Seung-Hwan was brought early in the 7th inning in an effort to stop Hanwha from getting insurance runs. However, the plan fizzled as Oh was taken deep for Lee’s second home run, and then again in the 8th off the bat of Goh Dong-jin.

Samsung would rally for one run in the 9th off Ryu, who was named MVP of the series, to make it a 2-run game, but Hanwha closer Koo Dae-sung was brought in to close the door with 1/3 of an inning.

Hanwha will now head to Jamsil Field in Seoul to take on Daniel Rios and the No. 2 seed Doosan Bears. No word yet if Hanwha manager Kim In-shik will throw the 20-year-old phenom Ryu for a third time in a single week.