Seoul: With some strong pitching, tight defense and sloppy plays by their opponents, the Doosan Bears blanked the Samsung Lions 5-0 at home Wednesday. With 20,448 fans at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul, Bears starter Cole Irvin tossed 5 1/3 shutout innings for his first victory since May 5, while the offense came through with some late insurance runs.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the Bears improved to 32-46-3 (wins-losses-ties), though they remain in ninth place among 10 clubs. The Lions fell to 40-40-1, sitting in seventh place after securing only one win in their past six games. Both starters, Irvin and Gerson Garabito of the Lions, initially kept the game scoreless until the Bears broke through in the bottom of the fourth inning.
After Yang Eui-ji led off the inning with a double, Park Jun-soon drove him in with a two-out single, though Park was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double. The Lions, after failing to score with two men aboard and nobody out in the third, wasted a bases-loaded opportunity in the top fifth inning.
With two outs, Kim Seong-yoon, who leads the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) with a .347 batting average, hit a sharp grounder, but Bears' third baseman Park Jun-soon made a diving stop and threw him out at first to end the Lions' threat. The Lions loaded the bases again in the top eighth but were unable to score.
The Bears used three relievers to maintain their lead in that inning. After left-handers Lee Byeong-heon and Ko Hyo-jun created a difficult situation, right-hander Park Chi-guk struck out Kang Min-ho and Kim Young-woong, preserving the Bears' 1-0 lead.
The Bears secured the win by adding four more runs in the bottom eighth. Oh Myeong-jin contributed a two-run single, followed by Jake Cave's RBI double and Yang Eui-ji's run-scoring single. Irvin allowed six hits for his fourth scoreless start of the season and his second such outing against the Lions in three meetings. He improved to 6-7, lowering his ERA from 4.76 to 4.46.
Irvin utilized six different pitches: 38 sliders, 35 four-seam fastballs, eight changeups, seven sinkers, six sweepers, and one curveball. He threw 60 of his 95 pitches for strikes. Garabito, making his second start in the KBO after replacing Denyi Reyes, was the hard-luck loser after allowing just one run on three hits in five innings. He struck out seven and walked two.
The Lions were hindered by baserunning errors. With one out in the top third, Ryu Ji-hyuk was tagged out at third base after a failed bunt attempt by Kim Seong-yoon. Additionally, Koo Ja-wook was thrown out after making a wide turn at second base on a single by Lewin Diaz in the top sixth, hampering a potential rally.