Lee Seung-yeop, head coach of the Doosan Bears.
The Doosan Bears
Led by manager Lee Seung-yeop, returned to fall baseball after a two-year absence.
Doosan won 3-2 against the LG Twins in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League on Thursday at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul.
With the win, Doosan, which improved to 74-2 and 65 points, can secure at least fifth place even if the
sixth-place KIA Tigers (71-2 and 69 points) lose all three of their remaining games and win both of their remaining games.
Kia
Did not play that day, but Doosan’s victory completely eliminated their chances of making the postseason.
After reaching the Korean Series for seven straight years from 2015 to 2021, Doosan slipped to ninth
place last year, missing the postseason for the first time in eight years.
Doosan made major changes ahead of this season. They parted ways with longtime veteran manager Kim
Tae-hyung and handed the reins over to “newbie” Lee Seung-yeop, while also signing free-agent catcher Yang Yang-ji.
At one point in July, Doosan had a franchise-record 11-game winning streak, but the team had its ups
and downs, eventually finishing above .500 and reaching the postseason for the first time in two years.
The game was a back-and-forth affair, with Doosan making a run and LG following suit.
Doosan took the lead in the top of the second inning on an infield single by Kang Seung-ho with runners
on second and third, but quickly tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a solo home run by Austin Dean (his 23rd of the season).
In the top of the seventh, Kim Jae-ho scored again on a squeeze bunt with runners on first and third after an error.
However, in the bottom of the eighth, closer Jung Chul-won gave up a solo home run to Lee Jae-won (his fourth of the season) to tie the game again.
Doosan did not give up.
After loading the bases with two outs in the top of the ninth, Kang Seung-ho singled to right to make it 3-2.
Doosan faced one last crisis in the bottom of the ninth. Kim Kang-ryul faltered and allowed runners on first and second with no outs. Kim Myung-shin took the mound and struck out Austin, Oh Ji-hwan, and Moon Bo-kyung to end the game.
Jung Chul-won earned his seventh win of the season (6-6, 13 saves) with the lucky save, while Kim Myung-shin picked up his first save of the season (3-3).
LG, which had already clinched the regular season title, fell to 85-2-56 with the loss. 스포츠토토맨