Daejeon: With yet another gem on the mound Sunday, Samsung Lions starter Choi Won-tae continued his evolution into a reliable postseason pitcher, a notion that seemed unthinkable only weeks ago. Choi tossed seven strong innings and gave up just one run on three hits, as his Lions beat the Hanwha Eagles 7-3 in Game 2 of the second-round series in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason. The teams are now tied at one game apiece.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Choi had an inauspicious beginning, as he surrendered a solo home run to Luis Liberato in the bottom of the first inning at Daejeon Hanwha Life Ballpark in the central city of Daejeon. But then he only allowed three more hits, all singles, over his next six frames. The crafty pitcher relied on his four-seam fastball-changeup combo to keep opposing hitters at bay, while mixing in occasional cutters and two-seam fastballs.

Choi pitched around a walk and a single in the second inning, and then had two strikeouts in the third inning. He gave up a one-out single in the fourth but retired the next two batters, including Kim Tae-yean on a strikeout to cap a 10-pitch battle. Liberato singled with two outs in the fifth, but Choi retired Moon Hyun-bin on a flyout to left.

Choi threw his first three-up, three-down inning in the sixth and walked off the mound smiling ear to ear, having only thrown 82 pitches. Choi then tossed another clean inning in the seventh for good measure, retiring the side in order in just nine pitches. Choi’s smile was somehow even bigger than the previous inning, and Choi and his catcher Kang Min-ho shared a big embrace in the dugout afterward, knowing that Choi’s day was done after those seven strong innings.

This was the second straight quality start this postseason for Choi, who had an ugly 11.16 ERA in 18 previous outings before this fall. On Oct. 9, Choi fired six shutout innings and struck out eight SSG Landers batters for a 5-2 victory in the previous postseason series. After that game, Choi cracked that even he didn’t have high expectations of himself and he was sure Lions fans didn’t see an outing like that coming.

Expectations for Sunday’s game might also have been tempered, given that the opposing starter was the Eagles’ veritable ace Ryan Weiss, who ranked top five in innings pitched and strikeouts in the regular season. But it was Weiss, not Choi, who crumbled under the weight of postseason play. The Lions chased him after scoring five times on nine hits off Weiss in just four innings — more than enough run support for Choi.