Young lefty looking to give Dinos commanding lead in Korean Series

▲ Chris Flexen of the Doosan Bears pitches against the KT Wiz in the top of the seventh inning of Game 4 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Nov. 13, 2020. (Yonhap)

▲ In this file photo from Oct. 24, 2020, Koo Chang-mo of the NC Dinos pitches against the LG Twins in the top of the sixth inning of a Korea Baseball Organization regular season game at Changwon NC Park in Changwon, 400 kilometers southeast of Seoul. (Yonhap)

Korean Series-Game 2 starters

Young lefty looking to give Dinos commanding lead in Korean Series

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Nov. 17 (Yonhap) -- Left-hander Koo Chang-mo will try to give the NC Dinos a 2-0 lead over the Doosan Bears in the Korean Series on Wednesday.

Following the Dinos' 5-3 victory in Game 1 of the series at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Tuesday, Koo was announced as the starter for the second game of the best-of-seven set.

The Bears will counter with right-hander Chris Flexen, hoping he'll be able to continue his impressive postseason run and tie the series.

Koo went 9-0 in 14 starts and one relief appearance with a 1.74 ERA in the regular season. After enjoying a dominant first half, Koo missed most of the second half of the year with forearm trouble. Koo faced the Bears just once, on May 20, and got a no-decision after holding them to a run over eight innings and striking out seven.

Koo was shut down on July 26 and missed all of August and September. He returned to action with a relief appearance on Oct. 24 and made one final start six days later.

Flexen, too, had an injury-plagued regular season but has been the most dominant pitcher in the postseason so far. The American was voted the MVP of the previous series against the KT Wiz, after tossing 10 1/3 innings of two-run ball with 13 strikeouts in two games. He struck out 11 in 7 1/3 innings in Game 1 on Nov. 9 and then pitched three shutout innings for a save in the clinching Game 4 last Friday. He will be pitching on four days' rest.

In three regular season starts against the Dinos, Flexen had a 0-1 record and a 3.00 ERA. In 18 innings, Flexen struck out 22 but also served up three home runs -- more than any other team he faced this year.

NC cleanup Yang Eui-ji had one of those home runs off Flexen and had two other hits in nine at-bats. Park Min-woo, who bats near the top of the NC lineup, batted 5-for-10 against Flexen.

Flexen held slugger Aaron Altherr hitless in seven at-bats and struck him out five times. Altherr was the start of Game 1, when he launched a three-run home run.


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