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The professional baseball Korean Series has officially begun. In Game 1, regular-season leader KT defeated Samsung following a slugfest to secure an early advantage.
Reporter Yu Byeongmin has the story.
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With a sellout crowd of 17,700 packed into Suwon Stadium, coach Park Kyung-soo—who led KT to their first-ever unified championship five years ago—signaled the start of the Korean Series with the ceremonial first pitch. Energized by the momentum, KT's batting lineup dominated through the middle innings.
In the bottom of the first with one out and runners on first and third, Hilliard delivered a two-run opening single and then scored on Kim Sang-su's infield hit.
In the third inning, star hitter Ahn Hyun-min hit the first home run of the Korean Series.
With no outs and a runner on second, he launched a two-run homer over the left field wall to make it 5-0, forcing Samsung starting pitcher Choi Won-tae from the game.
In the fifth inning, Han Seung-taek hit a solo shot over the left field wall, followed by Kim Hyun-soo's two-run homer to right field in the sixth, sending the Suwon Stadium crowd into a frenzy.
The Samsung lineup, which had been silenced by KT starting pitcher Daniel with no runs and 7 strikeouts through six innings, began their chase in the seventh.
Starting with Koo Ja-wook's two-run home run and capped by Lee Jae-hyun's two-run RBI double bouncing directly off the wall, Samsung scored 5 runs in a single inning.
Gaining momentum, the Samsung bats added 2 more runs in the eighth on Kim Sung-yun's RBI single and a wild pitch by Park Young-hyun, narrowing the gap to 8-7, a 1-run difference.
Hard-pressed and chased to the brink, KT relied on closer Park Young-hyun, who struck out 3 batters in the bottom of the ninth to seal a 1-run victory and successfully capture Game 1.
[Lee Kang-chul / KT Manager: Once again, I've realized that in major games like this, you can never afford even the slightest lapse in concentration. It was a great game until the very end.]
In Game 2 tomorrow (Nov. 4), Ko Young-pyo will start for KT, while Fedde will take the mound for Samsung.
(Video Editing: Park Jung-sam)
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