Bears Take Korean Series Lead Over Lions

The Doosan Bears got past the Samsung Lions 5-1 at home to take a 2-1 Korean Series lead on Thursday.

The Bears erased a 1-0 deficit with a broken-bat single in the fourth at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul, while capitalizing on wobbly pitching and shaky defense on a cold and damp night. They're chasing their first Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) championship since 2001, and trying to end the Lions' string of four consecutive titles.

Starter Jang Won-jun retired 11 straight batters in one stretch and scattered six hits over 7 2/3 innings to pick up his first Korean Series victory.

Game 4 will be back at Jamsil at 6:30 p.m. Friday.

After getting blanked for seven innings by Doosan starter Dustin Nippert in 6-1 loss in Tuesday's Game 2, the Lions got to Game 3 starter Jang in the opening frame. Rookie Koo Ja-wook, making his first Korean Series start, led off the inning with an infield single, moved to second on a wild pitch, and sprinted home on a single by Yamaico Navarro for a quick 1-0 lead.

While Samsung starter Tyler Cloyd struggled with his command, the Bears failed to take advantage in the bottom third. With one out and a man on, Cloyd walked two straight batters on eight pitches to load the bases, with the Bears' two hottest hitters coming up.

The right-hander buckled down and struck out Hur Kyoung-min, 6-for-8 in the first two games, and retired Min Byung-hun, who had three RBIs in Game 2, on a fly ball to left.

Cloyd issued two straight walks again, this time to start the bottom fourth, and the Bears finally made him pay for the free passes.

After those two walks, Oh Jae-won sacrificed the runners to second and third. Park Kun-woo then got a broken-bat single to shallow right center to drive in both runners, putting the Bears ahead 2-1.

The Bears increased their lead to two in the fifth. After a double and a hit-by-pitch, Min Byung-hun laid down a sacrifice bunt to put men at second and third for cleanup Kim Hyun-soo.

Cloyd intentionally walked Kim to bring the double play into the equation, but the next batter, Yang Eui-ji, hit a sacrifice fly to left to put the Bears ahead 3-1.

The Lions' sixth-inning rally in the top sixth proved fruitless, as Park Sok-min grounded out to short...