An Woo-jin meets Kim Won-hyeong: "If Benjamin lasts five innings, it's OK; we'll go for the win in the later innings. The instruction to increase pitch count is..."

*This content was translated by AI.

Doosan Bears will engage in a direct showdown against Kiwoom Heroes' ace, An Woo-jin (27). Kim Won-hyeong (54), Doosan Bears manager, announced plans to leverage a strong performance by foreign left-handed starter Wes Benjamin (33) and execute a decisive move in the later innings of the game.

Doosan will play an away game against Kiwoom Heroes at Gocheok Sky Dome in Guro-gu, Seoul, on the 2nd. The team is determined to carry forward the momentum from their decisive 16-6 victory the previous day (1st).

Ahead of the game, Doosan released its starting lineup. For today's game, Doosan arranged the batting order as follows: Park Chan-ho (shortstop), Cameron (right fielder), Park Jun-soon (second baseman), Yang Eui-ji (catcher), Kim Min-seok (left fielder), Ahn Jae-seok (third baseman), Yang Seok-hwan (designated hitter), Oh Myung-jin (first baseman), and Jung Soobin (center fielder). Wes Benjamin will take the mound as the starting pitcher.

The opposing starter is An Woo-jin, who boasts the best pitching performance in the league. An Woo-jin is scheduled to pitch up to five innings today. While his pitch count might increase slightly, leading to an earlier exit, Kiwoom manager Song Jong-jin (53) explained that the team does not plan to exceed five innings.

Manager Kim Won-hyeong, speaking to reporters ahead of the game, said, "An Woo-jin is a pitcher who is difficult to score against, but given that our batters showed strong hitting form yesterday, we have high expectations." He added, "In fact, it would be ideal if we could score against An Woo-jin, but since the opposing team likely has a plan for his pitch count, we hope our starter Benjamin can hold strong for about the first five innings."

In particular, Manager Kim placed high hopes on the team's focus in the later innings. He explained the game plan: "If Benjamin fulfills his role through five innings and keeps the game flow similar, both teams will likely be able to make decisive moves after the pitch count increases significantly."

He also noted that hitting against a pitcher with a limited pitch count is not as easy as it sounds. Manager Kim Won-hyeong elaborated, "When facing an ace pitcher, people often advise batters to cut down on swings and see more pitches, but that doesn't work well. As a former pitcher myself, I don't force that approach. In fact, telling batters to do so is akin to telling them to strike out. Positionally, if a pitcher has a fast and effective delivery, it's also difficult to distinguish between high and low pitches."

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*This content was translated by AI.