SEOUL– Before his Kiwoom Heroes faced the KT Wiz in a South Korean baseball postseason game Sunday afternoon, shortstop Kim Hye-seong was talking to a few reporters about impressive playoff exploits of teammate Song Sung-mun.
Song, a career .254 hitter in the regular season, boasted a .426/.478/.672 line in 21 playoff games before Sunday. When Kim teasingly called him “Mr. October,” Song smiled and said sheepishly, “I am really not that.”
But Song’s performance in the game said otherwise.
Batting ninth, Song drove in the go-ahead run with a single in the bottom of the eighth at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, lifting the Heroes to an 8-4 victory after they’d blown a 4-0 lead. It was Song’s second RBI of the game, following a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning.
That sac fly came after the Wiz elected to walk pinch hitter Kim Woong-bin in front of him. Maybe the Wiz didn’t get the memo about Song’s postseason resume.
Song said his strong playoff showings remain a mystery to himself.
“If I knew the reason why I’ve been so good in postseasons, I would be a better player in the regular season, too,” Song quipped. “I honestly don’t know. But I remember getting a hit off the bench in one of my first postseason games in 2018, and I think I’ve been able to stay confident after that.”
Song said as embarrassed as he may feel about his nickname, he doesn’t feel any extra burden from the spotlight.
“I don’t put any added pressure on myself because I have confidence that I can get the job done when it counts,” Song added. “And I am surrounded by great teammates and I trust those guys. We always try to push each other.”
If Song’s clutch hit came even earlier in the game, it would have made a deserving winner out of the Heroes starting pitcher An Woo-jin, who struck out nine in six innings of three-hit ball. The Heroes were up 4-0 when An left but the Wiz pulled even with three in the seventh and another in the eighth, before Song’s heroics saved the day.
An was lifted after just 88 pitches because of blisters in his index and middle fingers.
“I told the coaches I could go back out there in the seventh, but they tried to protect me for upcoming games,” An said. “I tried not to waste any pitches today. I tried to throw everything hard, be it my fastball or slider, and also mixed in some curveball, too.”
An, who led the regular season with a 2.11 ERA and 224 strikeouts, touched 157 kilometers per hour (97.6 miles per hour) with his fastball and sat around 154 kph. Seven of his nine strikeouts were of the swinging variety.
An came into this game with four relief wins in his postseason career, and a chance at his first victory as a starter evaporated in the frustrating eighth inning for his team. After the Wiz got the tying run across the plate, An was seen heading to the tunnel behind the dugout, apparently to gather himself.
“I was hoping we would stay in front, and I was disappointed when the lead was gone,” An said. “But it was never about me or my own victory. I wanted the team to get the victory.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency