KBO Playoffs: Lotte Wins Series Opener 8-5

SEOUL, South Korea -- If Game 1 was any indication of what's to come in the KBO's first round series between Lotte and Doosan, there's going to be a lot of drama that will give heart attacks to coaches, players and fans from both teams.

Hwang Jae-kyun's 10th inning RBI double broke a five-all tie to give Lotte the lead for good as the Giants pulled away to an 8-5 victory to steal Game 1 of the best-of-five series and give Lotte the home field advantage.

After Lotte opened up a 3-0 lead in the fourth, the see-saw battle commenced as Doosan stormed back in the bottom of the fifth with four runs of their own. The Bears added a fifth to make it 5-3 in the seventh before Park Joon-suh's two run blast in the top of the eighth tied the game at five.

Lotte survived a scare in the ninth, when Kim Hyun-su's line drive off game winner Kim Sa-yeol (1-0) was snagged mid-air by first baseman Park Joon-suh who doubled up Oh Jae-hwan to end the inning.

In the tenth, after Yong Duk-han led of the inning with a double, and Park Joon-suh's bunt single put runners on first and third,  Hwang's game winning hit down the left field line off loser Kim Seung-hee (0-1) rattled Doosan, which was followed by a two-run error which put the game out of reach.

After Doosan's Yoon Suk-min led off the 10th with a single, Jung Dae-hyun retired the next three hitters in the 10th inning for the save.

Game 2 is tomorrow at 6 p.m. at Jamsil Stadium, with Lotte ace Shane Youman (13-7) facing Lee Yong-chan (10-11).

Images Courtesy of Sports Chosun

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