Coming into a close game in the eighth inning isn't an easy thing for a closer. But as the Yomiuri Giants' Marc Kroon can attest to, you don't catch many breaks in October.
"It's definitely different," Kroon said after notching a four-out save to preserve the Giants' 6-4 win over the Chunichi Dragons in the Climax Series on Thursday. "As a closer your mind-set is one inning. But no one said it's just a one-inning job. Sometimes you're asked, but if you're lucky you don't have to do it very often.
"But it's not the easiest thing to do, especially for a guy like me, who is a little older now. To go out there and have to come back inside and sit for five or 10 minutes and then go back out there again is difficult."