After a setback in Game 1 of the Korea Series, Woo-seok Ko (25-LG Twins) is back to being the same player we knew, trusted by his manager and teammates. LG had faith in him.
He pitched one inning of one-hit, two-strikeout, 10-pitch relief in Game 2 of the best-of-seven Shinhan Bank SOL KBO Korean Series against the KT Wiz at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on April 8 to earn his first career Korean Series save.
Go came on as the team’s eighth pitcher to close out the ninth inning with a 5-4 lead. It was a far cry from Game 1, when he gave up the game-winning hit to Moon Sang-chul. He struck out the leadoff batter, Kim Min-hyuk, on a swinging strikeout and retired the next batter, 온라인카지노 Cho Myung-ho, on a grounder to second base to end the game.
With Go Woo-seok’s perfect finish, LG tasted its first Korean Series victory in 21 years after beating Samsung 8-7 in Game 5 of the 2002 Korean Series on Nov. 8.
Ko Woo-seok, the KBO’s leading closer, tasted bitterness in Game 1 of the Korean Series on Nov. 7.
He took the mound in the bottom of the ninth inning with the score tied 2-2, but two batters later, he walked Choi Jae-dae on a nine-pitch at-bat before giving up a devastating RBI double to Moon Sang-chul. Go suffered the ignominy of being the losing pitcher in Game 1 of the Korean Series, a game LG fans had waited 21 years to see.
“Obviously, I pitched after yesterday’s game, so it was fine,” he said. “I thought, ‘Yesterday’s game is just yesterday, so let’s focus on it again today,’ and I prepared the same way. If there was anything different, I threw with a little more effort, and it helped that (Park) Dong-won tried to throw after seeing his brother’s meat,” he said of his first save in the Korean Series.
Manager Yoon Kyung-yup’s mental care also helped them rebound. “The coach told me that I should create my own know-how to catch pitches when they don’t work. He also told me to throw today’s game the way I want to and (Park) Dong-won told me to throw according to my brother’s signature,” he said.
“When I came out on the field again today, (Kim) Hyun-soo, (Park) Hae-min, (Oh) Ji-hwan, and (Park) Dong-won asked me if my brother was sick, and (Lim) Chanyu told me a lot of good things,” he said. “Since 2019, I’ve been going to fall baseball and tasting failure after failure. Of course, the Korean Series has a different weight, but the experience of past failures helped me refresh myself a little more.”
Park Dong-won, who was also in the interview room, had no doubts about Go Woo-seok’s performance.
“Yesterday, he threw so well, but one of his curves turned into a bad pitch. I told him that I was disappointed, so next time I’ll prepare well so that the ball doesn’t go there. I asked him about his condition because he threw too many pitches yesterday, and he said he was fine, so I told him to prepare well again.” “Go Woo-seok is a good enough pitcher. There is no other good closer in Korea. I always believed he would pitch well.”
On how he felt when he clinched his first Korean Series save, Go Woo-seok said, “I felt fortunate. Actually, I was more thrilled when (Park) Dong-won hit a home run than when I got the save. It’s a pity I couldn’t join in and hit him,” he laughed.
He didn’t forget to thank the LG fans who filled Jamsil Stadium with waves of yellow. “Even though the result was not good yesterday, I felt the joy of being part of this team when they chanted my name every time I threw,” he said sincerely.
For Go, who hails from Elin, the Korean Series is different. “It’s a pleasure and an honor to play in the Korean Series, regardless of whether we win or lose. LG hasn’t been to the Korean Series in 21 years since 2002 and is looking to win the title for the first time in 29 years since 1994.
“I’m happy,” said Ko Woo-seok. It’s my first time in the Korean Series, but every time I go out for fall baseball, I think that I’m playing baseball after playing the regular season just to play this game. Yesterday’s result wasn’t good, but I was still having fun,” he smiled.