Lions stack left-handed batters against sidearm opposing pitcher

SUWON, South Korea, Nov. 4 (Yonhap) -- Going up against a sidearm pitcher who posted strong numbers against his team in the regular season, Samsung Lions manager Park Jin-man stacked his lineup with six straight left-handed batters in the second game of the South Korean baseball championship series Wednesday.

The Lions will face Ko Young-pyo of the KT Wiz in Game 2 of the Korean Series at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, just south of Seoul. The Lions dropped the first game Tuesday by 8-7.

Ko tied for the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) lead with 15 wins in the regular season and three of them came against the Lions in four outings. He pitched to a 2.25 ERA over 24 innings.

Sidearm pitchers typically struggle against left-handed batters, given the natural flight of their pitches. Ko held right-handed batters to a .225 batting average and five home runs, but left-handed hitters touched him for 11 home runs and a .265 batting average.

"He is a rare type of pitcher in the KBO and we made some changes to put in guys who have done well against sidearm pitchers," Park said in his pregame media session. "I think Ko Young-pyo really exploits the high part of the strike zone really well. The key for us in this game is how we can handle those pitches. He does a great job of changing the eye levels of hitters, and we have to lay off low pitches and go after high ones."

Left-handed outfielder Kim Seong-yoon will make his first postseason start since the first game of the previous series on Oct. 26. Kim went 2-for-2 after coming off the bench Tuesday. Choi Hyoung-woo traded places with Lewin Diaz to bat cleanup.

"The earlier we can get Ko Young-pyo out of the game, the better," Park said. "They don't have a lot of left-handed options out of the bullpen and we already hit them hard in last night's game."