KT Wiz maintained second place thanks to the good pitching of pitchers, including starting pitcher Go Young-pyo, and the concentration of hitters.
KT won 6-2 in the final regular season match against the NC Dinos of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League held at Changwon NC Park on the 14th, recording two consecutive wins.
With this day’s game, KT’s season record reached 67 wins, 3 draws, and 53 losses (0.558), and the match between the two teams ended with KT having the upper hand (10 wins, 6 losses). Additionally, the gap between 2nd place KT and 3rd place NC widened to 1.5 games. NC’s record, which failed to regain second place, was 64 wins, 2 draws, and 53 losses (0.547).
On this day, KT had Minhyuk Kim (right fielder) – Anthony Alford (left fielder) – Jaegyun Hwang (third baseman) – Byeongho Park (designated hitter) – Jeongdae Bae (center fielder) – Jeongdae Bae (center fielder) – Seongwoo Jang (catcher) – Yunseok Oh (first baseman) – The lineup was formed in that order: Shin Bon-ki (second baseman) and Kim Sang-soo (shortstop). The starting pitcher is Ko Young-pyo.
NC: Son Ah-seop (designated hitter) – Park Min-woo (second baseman) – Park Geon-woo (right fielder) – Jason Martin (center fielder) – Kwon Hee-dong (left fielder) – Oh Young-soo (first baseman) – Seo Ho-cheol (second baseman) – Kim Hyeong-jun (catcher) – Kim Joo-won The lineup was formed in that order (shortstop). Starting pitcher Tanner Turley took the starting mound.
While KT finished the attack without scoring in the top of the first inning, the team that succeeded in taking the lead was NC. In the bottom of the first inning, leadoff Son A-seop hit a double against Ko Young-pyo after a six-pitch game, and follow-up hitter Park Min-woo also hit a double, bringing second base runner A-seop Son home.
However, Park Min-woo, who was in scoring position, was unable to come home as Park Geon-woo and Martin retired with a ground ball and a strikeout, respectively, at second base with no outs, and after Kwon Hee-dong’s walk, Oh Young-soo nullified the opportunity with a ground ball to first base with two outs and runners on first and second base.
Ko Young-pyo, who saved the game with just one point in a situation that could have resulted in a large number of runs, made up for his disappointment by turning NC’s lower-order lineup of Seo Ho-cheol, Kim Hyeong-jun and Kim Joo-won in the bottom of the second inning with ground balls. Go Young-pyo’s efficient pitching stood out, with only 11 pitches.
KT, which was silent in the top of the first and second inning, started in the top of the third inning. Leadoff hitter Shin Bon-ki’s walk and Kim Sang-soo’s sacrifice bunt provided a scoring opportunity, and Kim Min-hyuk, who appeared on second base with one out and one out, hit a double, allowing second base runner Shin Bon-ki to hit home. KT’s first goal of the day.
Not satisfied with the tie, KT took the lead for the first time since the start of the game thanks to Alford’s RBI double in the ensuing game with one out and two on second base. It was a score that could be of great help to Go Young-pyo, who was a bit shaken at the beginning of the game.
NC, which lost the lead, put pressure on Go Young-pyo in the bottom of the third inning with consecutive hits by Son Ah-seop and Park Min-woo. However, Park Geon-woo struck out with no outs on first and second base, and Martin, who pitched a 13-pitch game, also recorded a strikeout and was unable to advance runners, let alone a hit. In the end, when follow-up batter Kwon Hee-dong grounded out to shortstop, first base runner Park Min-woo was forced out at second base, ending the inning.
At least NC had to be satisfied with striking a balance by scoring 1 point in the bottom of the 4th inning. After leadoff hitter Oh Young-soo hit a double and advanced to third base when Seo Ho-cheol hit a grounder to second baseman, he reached home when Kim Hyeong-jun hit a double. The score was 2-2.
The two teams continued the frustrating trend in the 5th and 6th innings, unable to break the balance of 2-2, and it was in the top of the 7th that the game changed. NC removed Tanner, who pitched 6 innings, and put Song Myung-ki on the mound. In the top of the 7th inning, KT regained the lead with 1 out and 2nd base with lead hitter Kim Sang-soo’s walk and Kim Min-hyuk’s sacrifice bunt, then Alford’s 1 RBI and timely hit.먹튀검증
Son Dong-hyun, who came on as a relief pitcher in the bottom of the 7th inning, eliminated Kim Joo-won, Son A-seop, and Park Min-woo with 11 balls, and the KT batting line also attacked the NC bullpen in the top of the 8th inning. After Bae Jeong-dae and Jang Seong-woo got on base with consecutive singles with one out and Oh Yoon-seok on first and third base with one out and Jo Yong-ho, who stepped in as a pinch hitter, hit a timely hit with an RBI, allowing Bae Jeong-dae, a runner on third base, to score.
Here, another pinch hitter, Lee Ho-yeon, walked on first and second bases with one out, and Kim Sang-soo hit a left-field hit, allowing third base runner Jang Seong-woo to hit home. It was a moment when the weight of the game was tilted more towards KT. The score was 5-2.
It was in the top of the 9th inning that KT clearly secured victory. Park Byeong-ho, who faced Han Jae-seung with 2 outs, fired a dominant solo shot that went over the right wall. Following the Incheon SSG Landers match the previous day, he drew an arch in the top of the 9th inning for two consecutive games. Park Byung-ho’s 14th home run this season.
KT, who ran away with a 4-run lead, put Lee Sang-dong on the mound at the start of the bottom of the 9th inning, and the game ended without allowing any runs. With the team playing a somewhat tight schedule, closing pitcher Kim Jae-yoon was able to get a day’s rest thanks to the batting lineup scoring points when needed.
Starting pitcher Ko Young-pyo, who tasted a win as a starter for the first time in 38 days since the Jamsil Doosan Bears game on the 6th of last month, achieved his 11th win and 19th quality start of the season by allowing 9 hits, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts, and 2 runs in 6 innings.
Park Young-hyun, who became the third pitcher after Kim Jae-yoon and Son Dong-hyun, raised his hold by striking out two and allowing no runs in one inning, becoming the first pitcher to reach the 30-hold mark this season. He became the youngest player to hold 30 holds in a single KBO season.
In the batting lineup, Jang Seong-woo was responsible for the most hits in the team with 3 hits and 1 run in 5 at-bats, and Alford and Bae Jeong-dae both had multi-hit performances. Sang-soo Kim also did his part with 1 hit, 1 RBI, 1 walk, and 1 run in 2 at-bats.
NC starter Tanner failed to become the winning pitcher despite pitching well with 4 hits, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts, and 2 runs in 6 innings, and second pitcher Song Myeong-ki took the loss with 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 walk, and 1 run in ⅓ innings. Kim Si-hoon (1 inning, 4 hits, 1 walk, walk, 2 runs) and Han Jae-seung (1⅔ innings, 2 hits, 1 strikeout, 1 run), who pitched later, also performed poorly.
KT, who left the difficult journey, immediately moves to Daegu and plays an away game against the Samsung Lions on the 14th, and then clashes with the Hanwha Eagles in an away game in Daejeon on the 16th and 17th (including a double header). NC will play at home following the LG Twins game on the 14th and the Samsung game on the 15th and 16th.