Lions turn to rookie to take stranglehold on Korean Series

DAEGU, Nov. 6 (Yonhap) -- The Samsung Lions will try to take a 3-1 stranglehold on the Korean Series with rookie pitcher Jang Chan-hee starting the fourth game of the best-of-seven battle Saturday.

The KT Wiz will counter with left-hander Logan Allen.

The Lions grabbed a 2-1 series lead Friday with a 5-1 victory in Game 3 at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in the southeastern city of Daegu. Game 4 is set for 2 p.m. Saturday in Daegu.

Only once out of the 19 previous occasions has a team rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the Korean Series to win the championship, and the 2013 Lions are the only team to have pulled it off.

Jang, a third-round pick in the 2025 Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) draft, went 4-5 with a 4.50 ERA and three holds in 41 appearances, including nine starts, in the regular season.

He faced the Wiz twice and gave up four runs in five innings on eight hits, including two home runs. Kim Hyun-soo and Sam Hilliard, who have been hitting in the middle of the Wiz lineup this series, had one homer each.

Allen made a bullpen cameo in Game 1 on Tuesday but was charged with two earned runs on two hits in 1/3 of an inning. He was sent right back to the rotation after that game.

Allen went 0-1 with a 4.63 ERA in two regular-season meetings against the Lions, both of which came in Daegu. He allowed 14 hits in 11 2/3 innings but kept the ball in the park at the hitter-friendly Daegu stadium.

Five Samsung hitters recorded multiple hits against Allen, led by three from Koo Ja-wook.

The Wiz sought to use Allen as a situational left-hander against the left-heavy Lions lineup, but both hits he allowed in Game 1 came against left-handed batters. He also had a reverse split in the regular season, meaning he had better numbers against right-handed opponents than left-handed ones.

Allen held right-handed batters to a .261 batting average, but left-handed hitters batted .317 against him.