With explosive offense, Tigers defeat Landers missing injured slugger

By Yoo Jee-ho

INCHEON, April 17 (Yonhap) -- Kim Do-yeong smacked a pair of home runs and drove in a career-high five runs to back a scoreless gem by starter Wil Crowe, as the Kia Tigers routed the SSG Landers 11-3 on Wednesday to stay in first place in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO).

Cleanup Choi Hyoung-woo chipped in three RBIs for the Tigers at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon, just west of Seoul. Crowe tossed five shutout innings to improve to 4-1 in his first KBO season and lowered his ERA from 3.86 to 3.12.

Now in his third season, the 20-year-old Kim has matched his career high in home runs with seven after only 20 games. He had seven in 84 games last year.

The Landers lost slugging third baseman Choi Jeong to a broken rib in the first inning after he was struck by a pitch from Crowe.

With 467 career home runs, Choi is tied for the all-time lead in KBO history with former Samsung Lions first baseman Lee Seung-yuop. Choi drew level with Lee with a solo homer Tuesday, but his record chase will be put on hold for now.

The Tigers, who entered Wednesday leading two clubs by 1.5 games in first place, improved to 15-5-0 (wins-losses-ties). The Landers dropped to 13-9-0 as their five-game winning streak came to a halt.

There was a palpable hue of anticipation at the stadium before the game, with Choi on the cusp of home run history.

But the Tigers were determined to spoil whatever party the Landers had planned. They greeted starter Roenis Elias with four consecutive hits, including an RBI double by Lee Woo-sung and a run-scoring single by Choi Hyoung-woo, to take a 2-0 lead in the top first.

Crowe inadvertently ended Choi Jeong's day with a two-seam fastball that got away in the bottom first. The American pitcher took off his cap to apologize to the injured hitter and went on to silence the Landers' bats over the next four innings.

The Tigers doubled their lead in the top third, courtesy of a two-run double by Choi Hyoung-woo.

Kim Sun-bin led off the top fourth with a home run to put the Tigers up 5-0.

And that was plenty of run support for Crowe, who has settled in nicely in April after a couple of rocky outings in March to begin his KBO career.

The right-hander did not give up a hit until two outs in the fourth and ended up allowing just three singles in five effective innings.

Crowe allowed 10 runs -- one unearned -- in 10 innings across two March starts. But in three starts so far in April, Crowe has not yet surrendered an earned run in 16 frames.

Crowe was lifted after only 78 pitches because of right forearm tightness. A Tigers official said the issue wasn't serious and Crowe was removed as a precaution.

The Landers got a run back in the bottom sixth with Crowe out of the game with Ko Myeong-jun's RBI single off new pitcher Kwang Do-gyu.

But then Kim Do-yeong put the game further out of reach with his three-run homer off reliever Choi Min-jun. Kim has now homered in three consecutive games for the first time.

After the Landers scored a run each in the seventh and the eighth, Kim flexed his muscle once again with a two-run shot in the top ninth to make it a 10-3 game.

Hong Jong-pyo's RBI single later in the ninth rounded out the scoring for the Tigers.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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