Asia Series: China Stars vs. SK Wyverns

With a lead-off walk and stolen base by K.W. Jeong in the bottom of the third for the Wyverns, D.H. Cho reaches first when the Chinese pitcher, J. Chen, covers first too late. That was the first error of the game.

Cho took second on a stolen base with Ja.H. Kim at the plate. The Stars' catcher, Z. Zhang, double pumped, then threw to second late anyway. The runner at third stayed put, fortunately. Kim then popped out to short. Things are looking up.

However, Ho.J. Lee singled to right-center, plating two runs and going to second on the throw home. The Wyverns take a 3-0 lead. I think that that may be more than they need.

Lee almost found himself picked off at second, as Chen has a pretty good pickoff move. That, or Lee had way too big a lead. The batter, J.Y. Lee, struck out swinging for strike out number one.

J.H. Park walked to put runners at first and second again. With two down.

K.B. Chung then hit a high one bounder over Chen's head, that he just got a glove on. He came up throwing to first (too late!) wide! The ball gets past the first baseman. Two more runs score. And Chung goes to second.

There was another walk and Chen records his second strike out, getting number nine batter swinging.

So the Wyverns add 4 in the 3rd and take a 5-0 lead.

The Wyverns continue their scoring in the bottom of the fourth. The speedy K.W. Jeong beats out an infield single to third base. He stole second. Advanced to third on a ground out to short, near the second base bag. then Jeong was plated when number three batter Ja.H. Kim lined a double past the center fielder.

After four complete, the Wyverns take a 6-0 lead.

With the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the fifth, it's number nine batter, J. Choi, who comes through with a single to right, scoring two more.

After a ground out to move runners to second and third, D.H. Cho lifts a sacrifice fly to left to score a third.

That's it for the inning, and the Wyverns take a 9-0 lead after five.

China is in danger of having another called game against them. The Wyverns score another 2 runs in the bottom of the sixth when Liu, in his second inning of work, is replaced by L. Zhang on the mound. Zhang inherits runners at second an third with two down.

Pinch hitter D.K. Kim comes in for the dynamic top batter Jeong. Kim lifts the ball high to the left side of the infield. Everyone gathers just to the left of the pitcher's mound. Third baseman D. Jia call for it. And misses it! The ball bounces in between four fielders. Two runs in, and nobody is covering second base! Kim heads into second without a throw. Chinese Taipei takes a 13-0 lead.

Down 13-0 in the top of the seventh, I believe that this is the last chance for the China Stars to score.

W.H. Kim comes in to pitch for the SK Wyverns.

Number four batter, B. Chen, flies out to the warning track in right.

F. Zhang follows with a ground out to second.

F. Feng fouls a few pitches off to make Kim work. Then strokes a base hit to center.

But that's it. D. Jia lines the ball to the center fielder, and it's called mercy.

The game final:

China Stars: 0 runs, 3 hits, 3 errors.
SK Wyverns: 13 runs, 10 hits, 0 errors.

China didn't look so good this afternoon. They looked much better yesterday (at least for the first half of the game).