Lions captain Koo Ja-wook voted Korean Series MVP after playing through injury

By Yoo Jee-ho

DAEGU, Nov. 8 (Yonhap) -- After leading the Samsung Lions to their first South Korean baseball title in a dozen years Sunday while playing through a hamstring injury, captain Koo Ja-wook was voted the MVP of the Korean Series.

Koo earned 72 out of 97 votes from the media following the Lions' 12-1 victory over the KT Wiz in the title-clinching Game 5 of the Korean Series at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in the southeastern city of Daegu.

In five games, Koo batted .500/.565/.850 with a home run, two doubles, one triple, six RBIs and five runs scored.

Koo, 33, won the regular-season batting title with a .371 average but he missed the last dozen days of the campaign due to hamstring issues.

He was still not back to full health when the Lions' postseason began in the penultimate round on Oct. 26 against the Kia Tigers, but Koo, normally an outfielder, ended up playing every game of that five-game set as designated hitter.

Koo only batted 3-for-20 with zero extra-base hit in that series.

However, with his health improving, Koo found his groove in the Korean Series.

Koo homered in the series opener last Tuesday as part of a two-hit game, though the Lions lost 8-7. Koo went 2-for-4 the next day to help the Lions win 3-2 in 12 innings.

Koo had a hit and two RBIs in the Lions' 5-1 victory in Game 3 on Friday. Koo recorded two more hits and one more RBI on Saturday, as the Lions won 10-5 to reach the brink of the title.

The captain put an exclamation point on his MVP campaign by adding three hits in Sunday's clincher.

With the Lions down 1-0 in the bottom third, Koo delivered a game-tying double in the third inning.

Then in the eight-run fifth inning, Koo hit a single and scored the 5-1 run on an infield single by Kim Young-woong.

Koo had been standing at second base when Kim stepped to the plate. When second baseman Ryu Hyun-in deflected Kim's batted ball toward shallow left field after a diving catch attempt, Koo, with visibly less limp than earlier in the postseason, chugged all the way home to keep the rally going for the Lions.

The Lions opened up an 11-1 lead by the end of that big inning, essentially putting the game out of reach and clinching the MVP award for Koo, who was lifted for a pinch runner after hitting a single in the bottom eighth.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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