SEOUL– The crucial third game of the South Korean baseball championship series will pit one Cuban hurler against another on Wednesday.
The KT Wiz have opened up a 2-0 lead in the Korean Series over the Doosan Bears, taking the first game 4-2 on Sunday and then the next game 6-1 on Monday.
When the teams return to action Wednesday at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, the Wiz will have right-hander Odrisamer Despaigne on the mound, hoping he can push them closer to their inaugural title.
The Bears, seeking their fourth championship since 2015, will counter with left-hander Ariel Miranda, trying to keep their fading title hopes alive.
This will be the first all-Cuban starting pitching matchup in Korean Series history, which dates back to 1982.
Despaigne was 13-10 with a 3.39 ERA in his second regular season with the Wiz. He went 1-1 and posted a 5.40 ERA in three starts versus the Bears, who had 25 hits in 18 1/3 innings against the right-hander.
Cleanup Kim Jae-hwan torched Despaigne with five hits, including a home run and three doubles, in nine at-bats. No. 5 hitter Yang Suk-hwan went 4-for-10 with two RBIs, though he is only batting .194 (7-for-36) in eight postseason games so far.
Six other regulars had two hits each, but Despaigne held leadoff man Jung Soo-bin hitless in six at-bats.
Cuban designated hitter Jose Miguel Fernandez went 2-for-7 with an RBI against Despaigne.
Miranda had an MVP-worthy regular season, leading the league with a 2.33 ERA and 225 strikeouts, a new single season record, in his first year here. Miranda missed some time at the end of the regular season and then all of the postseason so far with shoulder fatigue. But he said on Sunday that he’d be ready to go for Game 3 and he will try to give his club as many innings as his body allows him.
Miranda, who routinely threw over 100 pitches in a start, will likely be kept on a pitch count on Wednesday.
He had a 14-5 record in the regular season but was 1-1 with a 4.26 ERA in five starts versus the Wiz. He struck out 35 in 25 1/3 innings but also served up three home runs.
Only one of those long balls was hit by an everyday player for the Wiz, third baseman Hwang Jae-gyun. Their No. 3 hitter, Kang Baek-ho, batted 4-for-13 with four RBIs. Two batters in the lower part of the lineup, Bae Jung-dae and Shim Woo-jun, had three hits apiece against Miranda.
Source: Yonhap News Agency