Kiwoom Heroes beat Samsung Lions to open 2021 KBO season

▲ Park Byung-ho of the Kiwoom Heroes celebrates his RBI double against the Samsung Lions in the bottom of the first inning of a Korea Baseball Organization regular season game at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on April 3, 2021. (Yonhap)

▲ Song Woo-hyun of the Kiwoom Heroes hits a two-run single against the Samsung Lions in the bottom of the sixth inning of a Korea Baseball Organization regular season game at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on April 3, 2021. (Yonhap)

▲ Eric Jokisch of the Kiwoom Heroes pitches against the Samsung Lions during a Korea Baseball Organization regular season game at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on April 3, 2021. (Yonhap)

▲ Fans take in a Korea Baseball Organization regular season regular season game between the home team Kiwoom Heroes and the Samsung Lions at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on April 3, 2021. (Yonhap)

baseball-opening

Kiwoom Heroes beat Samsung Lions to open 2021 KBO season

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, April 3 (Yonhap) -- Starter Eric Joksich pitched seven strong innings, and No. 9 hitter Song Woo-hyun knocked in two runs, as the Kiwoom Heroes beat the Samsung Lions 6-1 on Saturday to open the 2021 Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) regular season.

Cleanup Park Byung-ho went 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul in the only game to be played on Opening Day.

Four other games were rained out in Seoul, Incheon, Suwon and Changwon. Those cancelled games -- Kia Tigers vs. Doosan Bears, Lotte Giants vs. SSG Landers, Hanwha Eagles vs. KT Wiz and LG Twins vs. NC Dinos -- will not be made up as part of doubleheaders on Sunday. They will instead be played at a later date.

The Heroes broke the ice in the bottom of the first inning, with Park delivering a two-out double to the right-center gap to score Lee Yong-kyu, who had reached with a leadoff single.

The Heroes then doubled their lead in the bottom fifth, thanks to a defensive miscue by Lions' shortstop Lee Hak-ju.

With Kim Hye-seong at first after a leadoff single, Song Woo-hyun sent a flyball to shallow left field. Lee and left fielder Jose Pirela both gave chase, only to have the ball drop in no-man's land between them.

Kim reached third base on the play. And as Lee inexplicably held on to the ball for a few seconds while looking out toward the infield, Kim sprinted home and slid safely to make it a 2-0 game for the Heroes.

The Lions wasted a potential rally in the top sixth with some baserunning gaffes.

Kim Hun-gon led things off with a single. Lee Hak-ju followed up with a huge fly to left. Left fielder Lee Yong-kyu leaped at the wall to catch the ball, but only after it hit the fence first.

Third base umpire Kim Sung-chul signalled that the ball was in play, but Kim Hun-gon clearly didn't see it. He had run past second base and sprinted back to first base, thinking an out was made. Lee, meanwhile, stood between first base and second base, giving up on the play that he apparently thought was an out.

Both runners were called out. The Lions could have had two runners aboard with nobody out, and instead it was bases empty with two outs.

The Heroes promptly broke the game open in the bottom sixth.

They opened that inning with a single and a double off starter David Buchanan. The right-hander retired the next two batters, and with the first base open, he intentionally walked Kim Hye-seong to bring force play at every base.

In came Park Dong-won, who'd struck out his two previous at-bats against Buchanan. This time, Park drew a walk to push in a run for a 3-0 lead.

With the bases still full, Song poked a single up the middle to cash in two more runs, and chased Buchanan from the game with the Heroes up 5-0.

That was more than enough run support for Jokisch, who was at his efficient best. He held the Lions to a run on five hits -- all singles -- in seven innings. He struck out two and didn't walk anyone.

The Lions' lone run came with two outs in the seventh, courtesy of Lee Won-seok's single that went off the glove of diving third baseman Jeon Byeong-woo.

The Heroes restored their five-run lead in the bottom seventh. At two outs, Seo Geon-chang doubled off the left field wall, allowing Lee Jung-hoo to score from first for a 6-1 game.

The Lions failed to capitalize after putting runners at second and third with two outs in the eighth, and went down in order in the ninth.

Under the current set of social distancing rules, teams in the greater Seoul area, plus the southeastern metropolitan city of Busan, are allowed to have fans at 10 percent capacity. That applies to six clubs: Doosan Bears, LG Twins and Kiwoom Heroes in Seoul, SSG Landers in Incheon, KT Wiz in Suwon and Lotte Giants in Busan.

Elsewhere in the league, the cap will be 30 percent. This applies to the four remaining clubs: Hanwha Eagles in Daejeon, Samsung Lions in Daegu, Kia Tigers in Gwangju and NC Dinos in Changwon.

The Heroes had a crowd of 1,665 on Saturday. Their 10 percent capacity is 1,674.

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