(LEAD) Jurado pitches Lions to Korean Series with 2nd straight postseason gem

DAEGU, Nov. 1 (Yonhap) -- Entering this year's Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason, Samsung Lions starter Ariel Jurado had not recorded a win in four previous starts.

The Panamanian right-hander then won two straight starts against the Kia Tigers in the best-of-five second round, including the series clincher Sunday, as the Lions advanced to the Korean Series. The effort earned Jurado the series MVP award, as he earned 47 out of 79 votes cast by media.

Jurado gave up one unearned run on five hits in seven innings to lift the Lions to a 6-1 win in Game 5 of the series at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in the southeastern city of Daegu.

"I am so happy with this award. I honestly didn't expect this," Jurado said afterward. "I just wanted to do my best to help the team win."

In last week's win, Jurado held the Tigers to two runs on five hits in 6 2/3 innings. He was even better Sunday, when he did not give hitters anything straight -- 36 changeups, 26 two-seam fastballs, 10 curveballs and 10 cutters.

After a perfect first inning, Jurado erased a leadoff walk in the second inning with a double play ball and a harmless flyout.

The Lions scored once in the bottom first and three more runs in the bottom second, providing Jurado with more than enough run support.

Jurado gave up his only run of the game in the third inning when Ha Ju-suk, who reached on an error by first baseman Lewin Diaz, scored on a triple by Park Jae-hyun. It went down as an unearned run for Jurado.

The Tigers kept putting runners on base against Jurado but the pitcher kept wiggling out of those jams. A leadoff single by Harold Castro amounted to nothing in the fourth inning, while a one-out single by Kim Tae-gun in the fifth did not lead to any run for the Tigers.

The Tigers had two men aboard in the sixth after an error and a single. But Jurado struck out the final two batters of that inning to kill yet another rally.

The Lions staked him to a 6-1 lead in the bottom sixth. Jurado then came back out for the top seventh, getting another double play ball after a one-out single and getting what turned out to be his final out on a soft grounder.

On his way back to the dugout, Jurado shared an emphatic embrace with his catcher Kang Min-ho, and later got a handshake with his pitching coach Choi Yil-yeon.

Jurado did not overpower hitters but he did not have to, when he kept them off balance with his effective mix of breaking pitches.

Jurado posted a 1.32 ERA over 13 2/3 innings in this series.

In the Korean Series, Jurado and his team will be up against the KT Wiz. Jurado was roughed up by the Wiz in his final regular-season start on Oct. 11, allowing six runs on six hits, including two home runs, in four innings. It was the shortest outing of the year by the proven workhorse.

Jurado shrugged it off as "one of those games."

"Things like that can happen in baseball. Every game is different," he said. "When I make mistakes or don't pitch as well as I want to, then I just have to work harder. I think that is what has gotten me this far."

The Lions made two errors behind Jurado, one of which led to the only Tigers run of the game, but the pitcher said he was not affected by those miscues.

"I told my teammates that everything was okay and that they could always go get the next ball hit at them," he said. "Small mistakes can always happen."

Jurado, now in his fourth year in the KBO, said he could hardly wait to pitch in his first Korean Series.

"I think I will feel the kind of emotions I have never experienced before," he said. "There will be some adrenaline rush, too. I will try to channel that energy into something positive and help the team accomplish our ultimate goal of winning the championship."