KBO postseason foes shuffle lineups for key game

The KT Wiz and the LG Twins both shuffled their lineups for a key postseason game in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) on Tuesday. The Wiz replaced ailing veteran Kim Min-hyuck with 20-year-old sophomore Jeong Jun-young in left field. Jeong will make his first start of this postseason and will bat ninth for the Wiz in Game 3 of the first round in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason at KT Wiz Park in Suwon, just south of Seoul. The teams split the first two games over the weekend. Wiz manager Lee Kang-chul said the decision had nothing to do with Kim's error in the sixth inning of the Wiz's 7-2 loss in Game 2 on Sunday. Kim misplayed a single by Shin Min-jae with the bases loaded, allowing all three runners to come home to blow the game wide open. "He was sick yesterday and is not doing so well today, either," Lee said. "I am not sure if he will even be available to pinch hit today." Jeong, who only played in 43 games in the regular season, should be just fine, Lee said. "He is a good de fender, and he can also handle the bat," the manager added. "He does have some experience." In other changes, Mel Rojas Jr. will move up from the No. 2 spot to take Kim's place at the top of the order. Kang Baek-ho, tied for the team lead this postseason with six hits, will bat No. 2 after hitting out of the fifth spot. Hwang Jae-gyun will move up from No. 8 to No. 5 after getting two hits in Sunday's game. "Hwang has started swinging the bat better, and our hitting coaches are really high on him now," Lee said. Oh Jae-il will be the new cleanup hitter after Kang had taken on that responsibility in earlier games. Oh has 71 career postseason games under his belt, more than any Wiz player. "I am not feeling any pressure just because I am batting cleanup," Oh said. "I know this is the postseason, but it just feels like the regular season. Everyone around here is pretty relaxed." Twins manager Youm Kyoung-youb kept the same nine hitters for the third straight game but shuffled the deck a bit. Catcher Park D ong-won moved up from the No. 7 to No. 5 spot, with Oh Ji-hwan now batting sixth instead of fifth, and Kim Hyun-soo dropped down a spot to seventh. We want strong hitters bunched up together. And the first five hitters have to get the job done," Youm said. "At the same time, if just one of the bottom four guys can get something going, it can really help us." Park, who batted 3-for-9 with a home run against Tuesday's starter, Wes Benjamin, said the Twins were due for a breakout against the American left-hander. Benjamin has a sparkling 1.66 ERA in 10 career starts against the Twins. "I know he's been really good against us, but you can't predict anything in baseball," Park said. "We'll do whatever it takes to get the better of him this time." The Twins did not hit a home run in the two games of this series at the cavernous Jamsil Baseball Stadium, the KBO's largest park, and Youm is hoping it will change at the more hitter-friendly KT Wiz Park. "We have five or six guys capable of going deep at any moment ," Youm added. "Now that we're here, hopefully we can put on a few big swings." On the new-look lineup for his opponent, Youm said: "There's a lineup that the other team thinks is the best, and there's a lineup that we'd rather not face. Those are clearly different, but I will leave it at that." Source: Yonhap News Agency