Daejeon: With his team about to take on the most dominant starting pitcher in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) this year, Samsung Lions manager Park Jin-man said Friday he wants his hitters to take an attack mindset. The Lions will play the Hanwha Eagles in the second round of the KBO postseason, and the Eagles will start right-hander Cody Ponce for Friday's series opener at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in the central city of Daejeon.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Ponce won the pitching Triple Crown this year by leading the KBO with 17 wins, a 1.89 ERA, and a league-record 252 strikeouts. He also fired six shutout innings over the Lions and struck out eight batters in his only regular-season meeting against them. Park said his players can't afford to fall behind in the count against Ponce.
"He has dominant stuff and throws so many different types of pitches," Park said in his pregame media session. "We have to be aggressive. We have to take advantage of his mistakes and try to put those balls in play." Park then quipped: "He may be the best pitcher from the regular season, but the postseason is a different animal. We're hoping he will be overwhelmed by the occasion."
The Lions, as the No. 4 seed, had to play six postseason games to get to this stage, while the Eagles earned a bye to this round and will play for the first time in 14 days. Park insisted his players are not as exhausted as some may assume. His starting pitchers have been going deep into games but have been pitching on regular rest, which in turn has saved the bullpen. That the Lions finished off the SSG Landers in four games in the previous round earlier this week, instead of needing the full five games to win the series, also helped.
"Fortunately, we've had some extra time to rest up," Park said. "Some of our position players may be tired, but they should be fine." The biggest beneficiary of that extra rest is third baseman Kim Young-woong. He had to leave Game 3 of the last series on Monday and missed the next game the following day. He drew back into the lineup for Friday. "He had two full days off, and we checked his condition during practice yesterday," Park said. "He looked good, and he should be able to play going forward."