INCHEON– Before making his Korean Series debut Tuesday night, SSG Landers center fielder Choi Ji-hoon had sounded like a confident veteran, saying he wasn’t nervous at all and he was ready to have some fun.
Under the bright lights of the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) championship round, however, Choi looked overmatched. He went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts at the plate, and misplayed the bounce of a base hit that ended up being a game-tying double for the Heroes in the sixth inning. The Landers dropped that opening game 7-6 in 10 innings.
Some 24 hours later, Choi played like a different man. He went 3-for-5 with a home run, two RBIs, two runs scored and a steal from the No. 2 spot, helping the Landers to a 6-1 victory.
The Landers evened the best-of-seven series at one game apiece.
Choi did have another shaky moment in the field Wednesday, letting a deep fly drop on the warning track between himself and right fielder Han Yoo-seom for a double in the third inning.
The Heroes loaded the based later that frame but managed just one run from that rally.
Choi then got to work at the plate. After hitting a single and scoring a run in the first, Choi led off the third inning with a single and stole second base.
In his next trip to the plate, with the Landers nursing a 3-1 lead, Choi gave his team some breathing room with a two-run home run to right field against starter Tyler Eppler.
Choi would have padded his RBI total, had Kiwoom center fielder Lee Jung-hoo not robbed him of an extra-base hit with the bases loaded in the sixth.
Choi had gone only 1-for-7 against Eppler during the regular season, but he said after Wednesday’s win that he wasn’t thinking about the past numbers.
“I was just trying to get on base any way I could,” Choi said. “I wanted to make sure I wasn’t forcing the issue, and it led to some great results. I didn’t expect to hit a home run today, and I am glad I was able to make up for some mistakes on defense.”
Choi said he had been discouraged by his mediocre fielding — “I played with some bruised ego,” Choi cracked — and he was glad to have contributed from the plate.
“I am usually a pretty confident defender, and I take pride in not making mistakes like these,” Choi said. “At least I was able to get some key hits. Hopefully, I should be able to relax more on the field and play defense the way I am capable of playing.”
Choi’s big day at the plate backed a strong start by right-hander Wilmer Font, who scattered five hits and gave up one run over seven innings. He struck out four and walked two.
The Landers staked him to a 3-0 lead after the first inning, and Font survived that bases-loaded jam in the third inning with only one run allowed. With the meat of the order coming up, Font got No. 2 hitter Lee Yong-kyu to bounce into a 6-4-3 double play. Then with a runner at third, Lee Jung-hoo, the two-time reigning batting champ who had homered twice off Font in the regular season, flied out to right field to let the Venezuelan ace off the hook.
Font was hardly threatened again, giving up just one hit over the next three innings. In the seventh inning, Font retired the first batter before allowing consecutive singles, the first time the Heroes got back-to-back hits all game. Undeterred, Font got the next two batters to fly out to center, with the final out coming on his 100th pitch of the night.
“I may be the winning pitcher tonight, but this was a total team effort,” Font said through an interpreter. “I tried to throw strikes on the first pitch and get ahead on hitters, the same way I pitched the whole year.”
Font touched 154 kilometers per hour (95.7 miles per hour) with his fastball. Of his 100 pitches, 83 were fastballs.
“I knew Kiwoom hitters swung on fastballs often, and I felt I could get a lot of swings and misses out of that pitch,” Font said. “Even when I got into some jams, I stayed calm and focused even harder.”
Font also thanked his batterymate, Lee Jae-won, for being a “perfect catcher.”
“He put down great signs to mix up pitches on different hitters,” Font said. “He was so reliable behind the plate and I trusted him completely.”
In the regular season, Font ranked third in the KBO with 170 strikeouts, fourth with 13 wins and seventh with a 2.69 ERA. He also had the Heroes’ number, holding them to just two earned runs in 29 innings for a 0.62 ERA, the lowest mark he had against any opponent.
And that trend held up Wednesday night in Font’s biggest start of his KBO career. A loss in this game would have dropped the Landers into a 2-0 hole going on the road. There have been 39 Korean Series so far, and only two teams have ever rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win the title.
Source: Yonhap News Agency