Twins skipper sings praise of relievers, outfielder in KBO postseason victory

SEOUL, Oct. 14 (Yonhap) -- After his LG Twins held off the Doosan Bears for a postseason win Wednesday, manager Youm Kyoung-youb reserved high praise for his relief pitchers.

Starter Carlos Carrasco was charged with just one run in six innings in the Twins' 4-1 victory in the Korea Baseball Organization wild card game, but Youm noted the work of his two left-handers, Jon Kennedy and Lee Woo-chan, who both worked out of jams to prevent the Bears from mounting late rallies at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul.

Kennedy came on in the seventh inning after Carrasco allowed a single and a double to start the frame, and limited the damage to just one run. Lee then struck out two straight batters to end an eighth-inning threat when the Bears had two runners aboard.

The Twins got on the board in the bottom of the first on Austin Dean's two-run homer but put up zeroes over the next six innings. They needed every bit of the work by Kennedy and Lee to survive.

"Though we scored early, we were still in a tough spot because we failed to score add-on runs for a while," Youm said. "Then Kennedy and Woo-chan did a great job getting out of trouble."

Center fielder Park Hae-min also played a key role, as he ran down to catch a deep fly hit by pinch hitter Yang Suk-hwan with the bases loaded in the seventh. What could easily have been a lead-flipping hit ended up being a sacrifice fly that scored what turned out to be the Bears' only run of the game.

"That play helped us build some momentum in late innings," Youm noted.

Park said he had positioned himself in just the right spot before making that running catch.

"As soon as the ball left the bat, I felt like I could go get it," said Park, long considered the best defensive outfielder in the KBO. "And of course, Kennedy did an excellent job getting the next out to end the threat."

Yang threw down his helmet in frustration after Park made the catch, though the center fielder said he never saw it because he was getting ready for the next batter.

Incidentally, the two players were high school teammates, not that Park had that on his mind during this game.

"When I am on the field, anyone on the other side is the enemy I have to beat, whether it's my high school teammate or even my family member," Park said. "That is what professional athletes are supposed to do."

Kim Won-hyong, the losing manager, lamented the Bears' lack of offensive punch, something that ailed them all season, and also players' failure to pay attention to details on defense.

With the game still hanging in the balance in the bottom of the eighth, the Bears allowed two runs on a squeeze bunt and a wild pitch that sealed their fate.

"We repeated some small mistakes, and we gave up runs in situations that we could have escaped unscathed," Kim said, while adding he did not want to name any particular players for their miscues. "As a manager, this was an embarrassing game."