South Korea's SK Wyverns made it look easy against the President Lions last night with a 13-1 trouncing of the Chinese Professional Baseball League champs to qualify for today's title game against Japan's Chunichi Dragons in the Konami Cup Asia Series in Tokyo, Japan.
The game was so lopsided that the mercy rule was enforced after the top of the seventh inning, when the Lions failed to reduce the deficit to under 10 runs.
The Wyverns wasted little time getting to Lions starter Pete Munro with a pair of runs in the opening frame on RBI singles by Lee Ho-joon and Park Jae-sang.
PHOTO: AP
They roughed up Munro an inning later, with six more runs charged against the American right-hander, highlighted by Park Jung-kwon's leadoff solo home run and Park Jae-hong's two-run single with the bases loaded, to open up an 8-0 lead.
That was more than ample for SK starter Chei Byung-yong, who cruised through the first four innings without giving up a run before ultimately allowing the Lions' only run of the game on Yang Song-hsuen's solo homer in the fifth.
While Chei enjoyed tremendous success against the Lions hitters, the Lions hurlers were in over their head as the SK lineup did as it pleased by racking up a dozen hits over the first four innings for 13 runs, led by Jeong Keun-woo, Kim Jae-hyun, and Park Jae-hong's combined 5-for-9 batting with seven RBIs.
PHOTO: AP
Earning the easy win for the Wyverns was Chei, who allowed a run on five hits with an impressive 48-20 strike-to-ball ratio.
Tagged with the ugly loss was Munro, who managed only three outs in one-plus innings with eight allowed runs on as many hits and four devastating walks.
■ FRIDAY NIGHT'S GAME
Dragons 4, Lions 2
Two devastating errors by the defense led to a pair of unearned runs for the Chunichi Dragons as they toppled the President Lions by a 4-2 margin in Game 2 of the Konami Cup Asia Series in Tokyo, Japan, on Friday evening.
Starter Pan Wei-luen was magnificent off the mound for the Lions with six solid innings of two-run ball (both unearned) while fanning six and walking two.
But that did not stop the opportunistic Dragons from capitalizing on the Lions' miscues by breaking through in the top of the seventh with their third run of the game on an infield single by Ibata Hirokazu. They sealed victory with an insurance run in the ninth after the Lions had gotten to within a run in the bottom of the seventh on Kao Guo-ching's run-scoring single off Hirai Masafumi.
Constant pressure by the Dragons base runners proved too much for the Lions, resulting in three stolen bases and an amazing run-scoring play that saw a Dragons runner score all the way from second on an infield single by Ibata.
In yesterday's other game, it was: Chunichi Dragons 9, China Stars 1.
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