Foreign-born starters to duel in 2nd game of KBO postseason series

By Yoo Jee-ho

DAEGU, Oct. 26 (Yonhap) -- Two foreign-born starting pitchers will go toe-to-toe in the second game of their clubs' South Korean baseball postseason series Tuesday in the southeastern city of Daegu.

The Kia Tigers beat the Samsung Lions 5-1 in the first game of the best-of-five second round in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason Monday, and they will go for another road victory with American ace Adam Oller on the mound.

The Lions will try to even up the series and avoid going down 2-0 at home as their Panamanian right-hander Ariel Jurado takes the ball.

Kia Tigers starter Adam Oller pitches against the LG Twins during Game 2 of the first round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in the southwestern city of Gwangju, in this file photo from Oct. 18, 2026. (Yonhap)

Oller, who had the league's second-lowest ERA in the regular season at 3.13, made a solid KBO postseason debut in Game 2 of the previous round against the LG Twins on Oct. 18, when he allowed two earned runs on six hits in six innings while striking out eight and walking one.

Oller had one bad outing against the Lions in the regular season, allowing eight runs on seven hits in only one inning in Daegu on July 28. In two other games, though, Oller limited the Lions to a run on six hits in 13 innings.

Lee Jae-hyeon had the Lions' lone home run off Oller and also had a double against him. Koo Ja-wook batted 3-for-7 with two RBIs against the American.

Oller held Lewin Diaz, who finished second in the league with 129 RBIs, to one single in six at-bats and struck him out three times.

Jurado will make his fifth career postseason appearance. He has a 0-3 record with a 4.29 ERA so far.

The right-hander faced the Tigers once this regular season. On May 15, Jurado gave up three runs on 10 hits in seven innings and struck out a season-high seven batters, as the Tigers won 5-4.

Outfielders Na Sung-bum and Kim Ho-ryung had two hits apiece in that game.

Samsung Lions starter Ariel Jurado pitches against the KT Wiz during the clubs' Korea Baseball Organization regular-season game at Daegu Samsung Lions Park in the southeastern city of Daegu on Oct. 11, 2026, in this file photo provided by the Lions. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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