The KT Wiz broke out of a four-game losing streak.
KT won a big 13-3 victory over the Doosan Bears in the ‘2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League’ at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on Wednesday. Last-place KT picked up its 17th win of the season (30-2), while fourth-place Doosan ended its two-game winning streak and fell to 23-23-1 on the season.
Kang Soo-soo’s decision to pull starter Wes Benjamin with a five-run lead was key. Benjamin allowed three runs (unearned) on 89 pitches in 4 1/3 innings, walking four and striking out eight. The second pitcher, Park Young-hyun, pitched 1⅔ innings, striking out 13, walking none and striking out four to earn the win. It was Park’s first career win. Kim Min-soo (1 inning), Joo Kwon (1 inning) and Park Se-jin (1 inning) followed to preserve the win.먹튀검증
The batting line-up pounded out 17 hits in the second game of the season. Kang Baek-ho, batting third, went 3-for-3 with a home run, two doubles and four RBIs. First baseman Park Byung-ho, batting fourth, also went 2-for-4 with a double, a walk, two strikeouts and three RBIs.
The bats came alive early. In the second inning, Jang Sung-woo, Hwang Jae-gyun and Lee Ho-yeon singled to load the bases. Ahn Chi-young hit a sacrifice fly to right field to give Korea a 1-0 lead. It was Ahn’s first career hit.
In the bottom of the third, the Daggers scored four runs. With one out, Kang Baek-ho hit an RBI triple to right-centre, Park Byung-ho followed with an RBI double and Jang Sung-woo hit a two-run shot to make it 5-0.
Benjamin was rattled by a three-run fourth inning. With runners on first and second and Park Kye-beom at the plate, Benjamin committed an error at second base that allowed Song Seung-hwan to score and cut the deficit to 5-1. Kim Min-hyuk’s sacrifice fly to right field and Lee Yoo-chan’s RBI single to right cut the deficit to 5-3.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, the KT bats took advantage of the change in pitcher Park Jung-soo to score three runs again. With runners on first and second, Kim Sang-soo hit an RBI single, and Kang Baek-ho hit back-to-back RBI doubles down the right field line to make it 8-3.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, the bats came alive once again with a four-run big inning to end Doosan’s hopes of a comeback. With runners on first and second and nobody out, shortstop Park Kye-beom’s grounder to shortstop allowed Hwang Jae-gyun to score from second base to make it 9-3. With Choi Ji-kang on the mound, Kang Baek-ho drew a bases-loaded walk and Park Byung-ho hit a two-run double to centre field off reliever Lee Hyung-beom to make it 12-3. In the bottom of the seventh, Hwang Jae-gyun extended the lead to 13-3 with a sacrifice fly to left field.
Meanwhile, Doosan starter Kim Dong-joo suffered his third loss of the season (2-2) after allowing five runs on eight hits (one home run) and one walk in 67 pitches over three innings.