(LEAD) Lions beat Tigers to reach Korean Series

DAEGU, Nov. 1 (Yonhap) -- For the second time in three seasons, the Samsung Lions are headed to the Korean Series.

The Lions defeated the Kia Tigers 6-1 in Game 5 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason Sunday at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in Daegu, some 230 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

Leadoff man Kim Ji-chan had three hits and three RBIs to back starter Ariel Jurado, who tossed seven strong innings to earn his second win of the series. Jurado, who threw 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball in his Game 2 victory last Tuesday, was voted the series MVP.

With a sellout crowd of 23,550 fans on hand, the Lions took the best-of-five series in five games to punch their ticket to the Korean Series, where they will face the regular-season champions KT Wiz.

The best-of-seven championship battle will begin at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, some 30 kilometers south of Seoul.

The Wiz earned a bye to the Korean Series. They have not played since their regular-season finale on Oct. 12.

The Wiz are gunning for their second championship. They won it all in 2021 and lost to the LG Twins in the 2023 Korean Series.

The Lions are chasing their ninth championship and first since 2014. They were the runners-up to the Tigers in the 2024 Korean Series.

The Lions scored the game's first run in the bottom of the first inning against starter Adam Oller.

They made Oller work from the get-go, as Kim Ji-chan led off the game with a single and Koo Ja-wook worked a one-out walk.

Two batters later, Choi Hyoung-woo singled up the middle to score Kim, with the ball rolling just underneath the glove of shortstop Ha Ju-suk.

The Lions pulled away with three runs in the second inning.

At one out, they hit a single and a double off Oller. Kim Ji-chan then brought both runners home with a single to make it a 3-0 game.

Kim promptly stole second base to get himself into scoring position, and Park Seung-kyu cashed him in with a single for a 4-0 Lions lead.

The Tigers were not going down without a fight, as Park Jae-hyun's two-out triple off Jurado In the top third cut the deficit to 4-1.

The Tigers went to the bullpen early, with veteran starter Yang Hyeon-jong coming out in relief of Oller to begin the bottom third.

The Lions greeted Yang with two straight singles but failed to score. After that, Yang got nine straight outs to cool off the Lions' bats and keep his team in the game.

However, the Tigers failed to mount much of a response against Jurado, who had picked up his first career postseason win against the Tigers last Tuesday and was even more effective in this one.

The Tigers put two men on in the top sixth after an error and a single, but Jurado escaped that jam unscathed by striking out the final two batters of the inning.

The Lions then provided Jurado with extra support, as Kim Ji-chan's triple and Park Seung-kyu's single pushed their lead to 6-1.

Park's hit chased Yang from the game, and the Tigers looked to have lost their fight at that point.

Jurado worked a scoreless seventh, and Lee Seung-min and Won Tae-in kept the Tigers off the board in the eighth and ninth to lock down the series-clinching win for the Lions.