In a Korean Series battle between two of the best offensive teams in the league, relief pitching made the biggest difference Wednesday.The Kia Tigers defeated the Samsung Lions 5-1 in the suspended Game 1 of the Korean Series at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field in Gwangju, 270 kilometers south of Seoul.The game had been put on hold on the rainy Monday night, with the Lions up 1-0 with nobody out in the top of the sixth. Kim Young-woong had a 1-0 count at the plate against reliever Jang Hyun-sik.When the teams finally returned to action after another delay Tuesday, the Tigers replaced Jang with right-hander Jeon Sang-hyun. And he closed out the inning without giving up a run.Kim put down a bunt, but catcher Kim Tae-gun fielded it quickly and threw out the lead runner, Lewin Diaz, at third.Jeon then struck out the dangerous slugger Park Byung-ho. He walked Yoon Jeong-bin to load the bases but pitched himself out of trouble by getting Lee Jae-hyeon to ground out back to the mound.Jeon got into another jam in the seventh, when Ryu Ji-hyuk reached on an error and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt.But Jeon struck out Kim Hun-gon, who had homered before the game was suspended, and then left-hander Kwak Do-gyu took over.Kwak struck out Lewin Diaz to end the top seventh, and the Tigers' hitters responded by scoring four times in the bottom half of that inning to turn a one-run deficit into a 4-1 lead.Kwak pitched a clean eighth inning, which included a strikeout of Kim Young-woong. Then closer Jung Hai-young did the rest with a perfect ninth inning.In contrast, the Lions' bullpen faltered after starter Won Tae-in had thrown five shutout innings before the suspension.In the bottom seventh, Lim Chang-min, their fourth pitcher of the game, bounced two wild pitches to let in the tying run and then the go-ahead run, and later surrendered an RBI single to Socrates Brito.Kim Yun-su came on for Lim to put out the fire but instead allowed a run-scoring single to Kim Do-yeong that made it a 4-1 game.Kim Tae -gun's RBI double off the seventh Lions pitcher, Lee Seung-hyun, rounded out the scoring.After the restart, the Tigers' three relievers combined for three no-hit innings and struck out four, while the Lions' six pitchers out of the bullpen served up seven hits and five runs.Source: Yonhap News Agency