American starter provides bookends for Bears' postseason series win

▲ Chris Flexen of the Doosan Bears pitches against the KT Wiz in the top of the eighth inning of Game 4 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Nov. 13, 2020. (Yonhap)

▲ Chris Flexen (L) and Park Sei-hyok of the Doosan Bears embrace each other after beating the KT Wiz 2-0 in Game 4 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Nov. 13, 2020. (Yonhap)

▲ Chris Flexen of the Doosan Bears celebrates after closing out the KT Wiz 2-0 in Game 4 of the second round in the Korea Baseball Organization postseason at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on Nov. 13, 2020. (Yonhap)

postseason-pitcher

American starter provides bookends for Bears' postseason series win

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Nov. 13 (Yonhap) -- Chris Flexen threw the first pitch for the Doosan Bears in the penultimate round in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) postseason on Monday. And then he threw the last one Friday, helping the Bears win the best-of-five series over the KT Wiz with a 2-0 victory in Game 4, and sending them to their sixth straight Korean Series.

Flexen was voted the MVP of the series after making two dominant appearances. In his Game 1 start on Monday, he tossed 7 1/3 innings of two-run ball and struck out 11. He got a no-decision in a 3-2 win but was still named the Player of the Game.

Then pitching on three days' rest, Flexen took the mound in the seventh inning in Friday's Game 4, with the Bears nursing a 2-0 lead. He fired three shutout innings for his first KBO save, while striking out two and giving up one hit.

"I feel great. It showed a lot of reflection of hard work," Flexen said of winning the series MVP. "I had a job to do, and my job was to win ballgames and contribute in that manner."

He made 30 pitches, following 108 pitches from Monday. His stuff looked just fine. Flexen touched 153 kilometers per hour (95 miles per hour) with his fastball, and he pumped 27 of those four-seamers, while throwing only one curveball and two cutters.

The Korean Series against the top seed NC Dinos begins Tuesday, and Flexen may or may not start that opener, which would come on three days' rest again.

"I think as far as my pitch count, it was low tonight," he said. "I'd definitely be able to recover in the same amount of time and still be ready. I am going to prepare for whatever scenario (the coaches) have for us."

The Bears are trying to win their second straight title and their fourth in the past six years. Eliminating the Wiz was nice, but Flexen hasn't lost sight of the final objective.

"As a team, the ultimate goal was to advance to the Korean Series and we're planning on trying to win it all," he said.


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