SSG Landers manager Lee Sung-yong said Saturday his ace Drew Anderson is nearly back to full health after a recent bout with stomach flu.
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In fact, Lee said Anderson will be ready to pitch Sunday if the scheduled Game 2 of the first-round series in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) against the Samsung Lions is postponed Saturday due to rain.
Anderson, who finished second overall in the KBO with 245 strikeouts and third with a 2.25 ERA this season, wasn’t able to start the opening game of this best-of-five series Thursday after coming down with stomach problems earlier in the week.
“He had a pretty good bullpen session yesterday, and I’ve been told he’s in good form now,” Lee said in his media availability at Incheon SSG Landers Field in Incheon, about 30 kilometers west of Seoul. “He has lost about 3 kilograms because he hasn’t been eating well.”
Mother Nature has wreaked havoc on the KBO postseason schedule. Game 2 was already moved back from Friday to Saturday, and Saturday’s game is expected to begin under threatening skies. If it proceeds as scheduled, Anderson will start Game 3 on Monday on the road in Daegu, some 235 km southeast of Seoul.
The Landers, despite being the higher seed at No. 3, dropped the opener 5-2, with Mitch White, starting in place of Anderson, allowing six hits, including a home run, and three walks in just two innings of work.
Lee shrugged off the loss and said: “During the regular season, we always handled adversity really well. I am confident our players will bounce back today.”
Lions manager Park Jin-man, after stealing a win on the road, said he will not spare any bullpen arms if he senses an opportunity to go for a second straight win.
“Since this is a short series, we will have all of our relievers ready at the first sign of trouble from our starter (Gerson Garabito),” Park said. “We had the extra day off yesterday, and so our bullpen guys should all be good to go.”
Park also said he wasn’t paying much attention to the apparent mind game the Landers may be trying to play as far as Anderson’s status is concerned.
“We figured we would have to face him at some point in this series,” he said. “We got off to a good start here, and we just have to focus on doing our own thing.”
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