Rios on Verge of 20-Win Season

“Daniel Rios is the player most responsible for the Doosan Bears being in second.”

On September 16, the Jamshil game between the Bears and Hanwha Eagles was rained out, but Bears head coach Kim Kyung-moon displayed the utmost confidence that Rios would achieve 20 wins this season.

Rios led the prior day’s 8-2 victory against Hanwha in Jamshil by pitching seven innings and allowing five hits and two runs on six strikeouts. Rios harvested his nineteenth win of the season (19-5), tying the mark for overseas players set by Kia Tigers pitcher Mark Kiefer (19-9) in 2002.

Rios is scheduled for three more starts, and an additional win seems more than plausible. If he celebrates his twentieth win, it will be the first 20-win season in eight years since 1999 by Hyundai’s Jung Min-Tae (20-7, 3 saves) and the first starting 20 wins in twelve years since 1995 by LG’s Lee Sang-Hoon (20-5).

When Rios was playing for the Kia Tigers in 2002-2004, he displayed agitated behavior when the game did not proceed as expected, such as battering the wall with his fist. However, Bears coach Kim says that Rios has gained maturity. Even if a player commits an error as Rios pitches a game, Rios will now tell him, “It is all right.”

League leader SK won its fourth consecutive game in Munhak against Hyundai on September 15, reducing its magic number for a direct ticket to the Korean Series to 5.

Two games from September 15 and the Doosan-Hanwha (Jamshil), KIA-LG (Gwangju), Hyundai-SK (Suwon), and Lotte-Samsung (Sajik) games from the 16th were cancelled. These games will be rescheduled after October 1.

beetlez@donga.com hic@donga.com