KT Wiz, who raised the atmosphere by returning to 50% odds and reclaiming 4th place, swept all 3 matches against the ‘defending champion’ SSG Landers.메이저놀이터
KT sprinted to 6 wins in a row, winning 3 wins in 3 consecutive matches during the week against SSG Landers in the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League held at Suwon KT Wiz Park on the 1st to 3rd. The season record was 47 wins, 2 draws and 43 losses (0.522). With the victory on the 3rd, the ride between 4th place KT and 3rd place Doosan Bears (46 wins, 1 draw, 42 losses, 0.523) completely disappeared.
‘Lowest’ KT, which had a win-loss margin of -14 in early June, began to gain momentum thanks to the return of injured players and the performance of Lee Ho-yeon, who ‘joined the trade’. KT, who swept the last three consecutive matches in the first half against Kiwoom Heroes on the 11th and 13th of last month, continued its upward trend in the second half, and played against the Samsung Lions in Daegu on the 21st and 23rd of July and against the LG Twins in Suwon on the 25th and 27th as a winning series. Closed.
Here, KT took down the teams in the middle and upper ranks in two consecutive series sweeps from the 28th to the 30th, following the Changwon NC Dinos match, and SSG’s 3 weekday matchups. KT’s 3-game sweep against SSG is 706 days after the 3-game series in Suwon on August 25-27, 2021. In addition, the second consecutive series sweep is 1490 days after Suwon KIA Tigers on June 28-30, 2019 and Suwon Samsung Lions on July 2-4.
The biggest driving force was, of course, the power of the mound. During the six-game winning streak, KT’s average ERA was 1.17, ranking first in the entire league. In particular, what stood out in the SSG match was the good pitching relay of the starting pitchers. Koh Young-pyo, William Cuevas, and Um Sang-baek achieved Quality Start Plus (QS+) side by side.
Koh Young-pyo, who was in charge of starting the three-game series, completely blocked the SSG lineup with 6 hits, 4 walks, 4 strikeouts and no runs in 8 innings in the starting match against Kirk McCarty on the 1st. Koh Young-pyo’s overall performance against SSG, including his days with SK Wyverns, the predecessor of SSG, was 10 wins, 5 losses and 2 holds in 27 matches, 118⅓ innings, and an average ERA of 3.65.
Cuevas, who took the mound as a starter in the second game of the series, made up for the sluggishness in the match against LG on the 27th of last month (6 runs in 3 innings), the previous appearance, by recording 6 hits, 5 strikeouts, and no runs in 7 innings. Considering that the starting opponent was Kim Gwang-hyun, the ‘left-handed ace’ representing the league, it was a more valuable victory for the team than ever.
The pitcher who completed the sweep was Eom Sang-baek. He took the mound as a starter in the game on the 3rd and led the team to a 3-1 victory with 6 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts and 1 run in 7 innings. At the beginning of the 7th inning, which was the biggest hurdle, Choi Ji-hoon turned first baseman grounder at 2nd 1st and 2nd base, and led the innings responsibly until the 7th inning.
It was important to win 6 matches in 3 matches during the week, but it was also a big achievement to minimize bullpen consumption thanks to three starting pitchers who played more than 7 innings. As the games on the 2nd and 3rd went into a close match, Young-hyeon Park and Jae-yoon Kim of “Pilseungjo” had no choice but to fight, but as there were no major variables, the coaching staff was able to operate the mound as planned in the second half of the game.
While the starters are maintaining a stable appearance despite the vacancy of So Joon So, who ended the season early due to an injury, KT is now aiming to recapture third place.
Coincidentally, starting on the 4th, we will have three weekend matches against Doosan at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. With exclusionary performance and Kim Dong-joo’s starting match, if KT wins that day, it will bring down Doosan and rise to third place. Attention is focusing on whether KT’s starters will lead the team’s winning streak this weekend as well.