After the fifth inning, the Steel Magic’s poisonous baseball that grated ace Wes Benjamin hit the mark.
KT Wiz cruised to a 13-3 victory over the Doosan Bears in the eighth game of the 2023 Shinhan Bank SOL KBO League at KT Wiz Park in Suwon on Wednesday.스포츠토토
KT escaped from a four-game losing streak with a sweep the previous day to improve to 17 wins, two draws and 30 losses on the season. Doosan, on the other hand, saw its three-game winning streak snapped and fell to 24 wins, one draw and 23 losses.
It was all KT from the start. In the second inning, Jang Jang-woo, Hwang Jae-gyun and Lee Ho-yeon hit consecutive singles to load the bases. Jang Jang-woo and Hwang Jae-gyun followed with infield singles. Doosan starter Kim Dong-joo was hit in the left shin by a pitch hit by Hwang Jae-gyun. Choi Jae-dae then flied out to right field, but Ahn Chi-young, making his first appearance of the season, broke the 0-0 tie with a sacrifice fly to right field. First RBI in her debut.
In the third inning, Kim Sang-soo singled up the middle, followed by Kang Baek-ho’s RBI triple and Park Byung-ho’s RBI double. Jang Sung-woo then hit a towering two-run shot for the winning run. Jang watched the first pitch from Kim Dong-joo and then took the second pitch, a high fastball (144km), for his fourth home run of the season.
Doosan rallied in the fourth inning after falling behind 5-0. After leadoff singles by Yang Seok-hwan and Song Seung-hwan, Park Kye-beom took advantage of a wild pitch by starter Wes Benjamin to score from second base. Pinch-hitter Kim Min-hyuk followed with a sacrifice fly and Lee Yoo-chan followed with an RBI single to cut the deficit to 3-5.
KT did not stand still. In the top of the fourth inning, Ahn Chi-young led off with a single and Kim Min-hyuk followed with a single to right before Kim Sang-soo and Kang Baek-ho hit back-to-back RBI doubles.
In the fifth inning, the opposition took advantage of the gap. With runners on first and second and nobody out, Hwang Jae-gyun took advantage of a throwing error by the shortstop to score from third, and after back-to-back singles by Kim Min-hyuk and Kim Sang-soo, Kang Baek-ho drew a walk and Park Byung-ho hit a two-run single to drive in the winning run.
KT celebrated the victory with a sacrifice fly by Hwang Jae-gyun in the top of the seventh inning.
Park Young-hyun earned his first win in relief after starter Benjamin went 4 1/3 innings, allowing three runs (unearned) on eight hits with eight strikeouts. He was followed by Kim Min-soo, Joo Kwon and Park Se-jin.
The batters hit for the cycle for the 10th time in the KBO, the 1055th time in their careers, and the second time in KT’s season. Among them was Kang Baek-ho, who went 3-for-3 with four RBIs, two walks and one run scored. Kim Sang-soo added three hits and Park Byung-ho, Jang Jang-woo and Lee Ho-yeon provided support with multi-hit performances.
Meanwhile, Doosan starter Kim Dong-joo suffered his third loss of the season (2-2) after giving up five runs on eight hits (one home run) in three innings, walking one and striking out five. Lee Young-ha, who was cleared of bullying charges, pitched one inning of one-hit ball in his return to the first team after 294 days. Jeong Soo-bin’s three hits were the only bright spot in the loss.